Light Exorcist
by phabulousphantom
Summary: Twenty-six now, Rin's got a job as a teacher at True Cross Academy and he's been thinking lately that life has gotten way too boring. Though chances are he spoke too soon, when a fateful encounter with a pack of ghouls brings a new character into his life. And it looks like she's an exorcist.
1. Part 1

Rin was practically asleep when she got on the train. The loudspeaker loud-spoke the name of the station, which half-conscious he missed, and his head snapped up with a jolt. What an old fart he'd turned into, and only at twenty-six. Long day, lame schedule, boring train ride back to the apartment. At least he'd gotten a seat. Snatched it after some old lady got off six or seven stops ago with a mountain of groceries. Living so far away from the Academy sucked.

He yawned, his eyes watering, so he rubbed at them, then the doors dinged and opened and she stepped on—a woman with waves of long golden hair down her back. He blinked at her and she took a place at the hand-hold pole in front of him. She caught him looking and she smiled, so he looked away—a little pink—and when she turned her head, he stared at her shoes instead. A shiny pair of—what did you call those? Short heels? The kind with the strap that goes over the top. And tights, she had tights on, too, dark red ones under a longish black skirt with folds in it. He snuck a peek at her face. She was pretty, and definitely foreign, in a knit scarf and a sweater, and she wobbled slightly, catching onto the pole as the train started to pull away from the station.

She caught him looking _again_ and this time he blushed.

The train picked up speed, rushing through the tunnels under Academy Town, the occasional light flicking by in the windows in drawn-out lines. So much to do when he got home…was Yukio back yet? He needed to feed Kuro. He just wanted to sleep… He'd started to nod off again when the train came to a smacking halt and the momentum flung him into the bar at his side and the blonde lady into his empty seat.

 _Flick—_ the overhead lights swapped for the emergency orange. He and the lady looked at each other in surprise. She was squashed against the hard plastic of the train seat. Around them, little conversations of alarm sprang up, passengers started to right themselves.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Someone pulled the emergency break," he said, and got up.

He went swiftly up the train car—he was seated in the second—and opened the door, stepping carefully across the gap and into the front car. The people there were just as jumbled, some of them still sprawled on the floor. He went to the operator's door and knocked.

"What's going on?" he asked through the plexiglass.

The operator shot to his feet and whipped open the door. He grabbed Rin's shoulders. "You! You're an exorcist, right?" His eyes were wild and he spit a little as he shouted.

Rin didn't much feel like dealing with crazy anymore today. "Yeah…why?" He slid out of the man's grasp and smoothed out the shoulders of his uniform.

The operator pointed with a wild finger out the front window of the train. "Look!"

There, in the beam of the headlights, standing in the middle of the tracks, was a person. But it wasn't a person—the limbs hung limp at an unnatural angle, its head lolled over.

"A ghoul."

The operator let out a squeal. "A demon! A demon!" The people in the cab of the train heard him and panicked, scrambling to their feet and letting out screams of their own, pushing each other as they tried to get to the back of the car and the door Rin had come through. He turned and looked over his shoulder.

"Hey!"

They stopped, stared at Rin.

"Calm down." Nobody moved. He turned to the operator. "Call the Knights of the True Cross emergency number, ask for Yukio. Tell them Rin Okumura is already here." The operator picked up the phone on the dash of his control board and started dialing immediately. Rin started down the cab of the car. "Evacuate to the last car. Get as many people in as you can, and don't get out of the train. Got it?"

He'd reached the door. A few of the people nodded at him, and he nodded back, swinging himself down onto the tracks. It was only a ghoul, and there was only one. He probably wouldn't need Yukio, but better safe than sorry. He worked his way around the train until he popped out at the front. When it saw him, the ghoul stopped walking.

If he didn't need to draw Kurikara, he wouldn't. The less attention he attracted the better. In the darkness of the train tunnel, his blue flames would be bright as hell—probably just freak people out more. As he approached the ghoul, he swung the sword in its scabbard down from his back.

"All right, ugly. Let's get this over with."

Rin took a step, ready to bolt for the ghoul and give it a good whack—even in its sheath Kurikara was still an effective weapon—but just as his foot left the ground, a chorus of moans sounded down the tunnel. He hesitated. Shit. Ten or twelve more ghouls slumped into the light, groaning and gurgling. He should have suspected. They always traveled in packs.

Well, there was nothing for it. Rin would have to take them on by himself until Yukio came with back up. He ran at the first ghoul, smashed it over the head with Kurikara and turned to take a jab at the next. He took three or four down until a ghoul grabbed onto his jacket. He shook it loose, but it grabbed again and pulled. He stumbled, and slipped away, knocking the legs out from under a ghoul to his left. Down the tunnel, the moans grew louder. The bulk of the pack, stuck tight against each other, filling the tunnel wall to wall, was coming toward him.

" _Shit_."

There was no way. He whacked a ghoul away from his legs. He'd have to draw Kurikara, there was just no way he could do it otherwise. _Whack, whack,_ two more, and even then he wasn't sure if he could take them all out by himself. He'd need—

"Heads up!"

Rin turned and— _bam,_ ducked just in time as the blonde woman in the dark red tights, her hair gathered up in a knot on the top of her head, came running at him and hurled something sharp past his head at a ghoul he hadn't noticed was reaching for his throat. Whatever she threw sliced right through its neck and came hurtling back at her where she caught it with a gloved hand.

"What are you waiting for? Draw your sword."

She took only a moment to glance at him and give him a prodding look he didn't care for before dashing off down the train tracks into the pack of waiting ghouls. As she ran she reached up and crossed her arms behind her head. Her sweater slipped from her shoulders and from a pair of tattoos on her back in the shape of a sun and a moon she drew two blades. They flashed for a moment in the beam of the headlights before she started hacking away at the ghouls. Sweet.

Rin couldn't help the smile that spread out on his face. He let the red cloth fall from around Kurikara's scabbard and then pulled the blade from its sheath. Instantly the tunnel walls lit up in blue light, and with a swift slice, he sent a wave of flame into the group of ghouls that had surrounded him and cut them down.

Up ahead of him the woman paused, almost in shock, at stared at him, at his flames. The moment lasted only a few seconds before she appeared to accept it and move on, slicing off a ghoul's legs at the knee. That was the fastest Rin had ever seen anyone deal with the sight of him in full demon form.

Together the pair of them worked their way down the pack of ghouls, Rin taking swift swipes with Kurikara and sending out shafts of flames, the woman working quickly with her dual blades and the boomerang sickle. She could send that thing flying down the tunnel, slicing ghouls, kill a few with her swords, and then catch it on its way back, pausing for but a moment to take aim and let it fly again.

She was incredible, but even with the two of them the pack of ghouls was just too thick. Soon, they'd worked their way deep enough into the pack to be out of the light of the train, but they'd also managed to get themselves surrounded. Where had they all come from?

"It's no good!" the woman shouted over their shrieks. "I'm going to find the alpha. Think you can handle yourself here?"

"Yeah, but—"

Before he could protest, she leapt away, cutting a path to the side of the tunnel like she was hacking through the jungle with a machete. Even if she found the alpha, there was no way she could take it down by herself. The alpha controlled the pack—the second she started attacking it, it would turn the other ghouls on her. He'd have to try and keep them busy.

Using his flames by now had become second nature. He just let them do what they wanted, instinctually controlling them at the back of his mind. Ghoul after ghoul fell to his sword and the flames. A minute or so passed before a great, bellowing roar came whooshing down the tunnel past his ears. She'd found the alpha.

And right on cue the ghouls all turned from Rin and started lumbering down the tunnel, back to the alpha to protect it. For a few moments it made his job easier, attacking the ghouls without them attacking back, but eventually about half the pack peeled away and focused on Rin while the others trailed away into the darkness where he could not see, but could hear the _chop-slice_ of that woman's swords. The ghouls surrounded him in a neat circle, motionless. He turned slowly, surveying them, watching, waiting for their—

 _Snap!_ Hissing and snarling they all came barreling at him at once, closing in like a pack of lions upon their prey and in that same instant a series of gunshots echoed through the tunnel and about half of their heads exploded. Just in time. Rin took out the rest with Kurikara. He turned, and there was Yukio standing in the headlights, reloading his handgun.

"I was headed home, so I was close," he said, coming forward.

"Thanks."

"Sure. What's going on down there?"

Rin shook his head. "I don't know. Some lady. She just appeared out of nowhere and started killing ghouls, so I went with it."

He shrugged and a second round of ghouls came out of the shadows toward them.

"An exorcist?" Yukio shot a few.

"I guess so, but she wasn't wearing any gear. Had a pair of blades like Shura's—well, not _like_ Shura's, but she pulled them out of her back like Shura, well—never mind. You get the point." Rin shook his head, killed a ghoul.

A terrible, rumbling groan reverberated down the tunnel, followed by a tremendous crash. At once all the ghouls dropped dead around them.

Rin nearly dropped Kurikara. "She did it."

Yukio looked at him. "Did what?"

"She took out the alpha."

Yukio raised his eyebrows. It was quiet now, aside from the sound of short heels clacking against the train tracks. Yukio and Rin stared as the woman appeared wandering out of the darkness.

"Either of you have a Doctor meister?" she asked, holding a hand to her bleeding arm, laughing and spitting out blood. "That last one…" She paused, wobbling, and going, if it was possible, even paler than she already was.

Yukio slapped Rin's arm. "She's going to faint. Catch her, Rin!"

Startled, Rin hurried forward and managed to get a grip under the woman's arms before she went completely limp. She was surprisingly heavy, and in his haste, Rin had placed himself at an awkward angle. He began to slip, and seconds later he was forced to plop onto the ground himself, the woman in his lap. He grunted under her weight.

Her eyes cracked open and she looked at him, a chuckle that turned into a cough sending up a little spurt of blood from her mouth.

"Nice flames," she said, and then she completely passed out.


	2. Part 2

The Knights of the True Cross sponsored a temptaint clinic not far from the last train stop, so Rin and Yukio took the woman there, waited in the near empty office while a Doctor fixed her up. Yukio had carried her back to the train and as they walked, Rin had noticed the woman's sickle lying by the side of the train tracks and picked it up. He held it now, turning it over in his hands and admiring the English inscription:

AWAKE MY SOUL, STRETCH EVERY NERVE, AND PRESS WITH VIGOR ON

"Who do you think she is?" he asked, looking up at Yukio who was leaning against the wall beside him.

His brother shook his head. "Beats me. She could be anybody, though I've never met an exorcist outside of the Knights of the True Cross." Yukio yawned. "I hope she's all right. I want to go home and go to sleep."

Rin couldn't disagree. He'd been teaching swordplay to dumbass first years all day with Shura nowhere to be found, not to mention dealing with Mephisto and several calls on demon possession he'd been forced to attend to on his lunch. It was late, and he was tired, but he was also curious—and he wanted to make sure the blonde woman was going to be all right.

He and Yukio waited in silence, listening to the ticking of the clock on the wall, watching the light flash off the sickle as Rin turned and turned it in his hands. Eventually the Doctor appeared coming through the door from the examination rooms into the office.

"You two aren't related to the patient, I take it?" he asked, glancing between Rin and Yukio. They shook their heads and he continued, "She was carrying her passport on her. American. Name's Daphne Olivia Lux. And she'll be just fine."

He smiled, that kind of doctor-y smile where they almost look humble but mostly just full of themselves for saving your life. Rin was about to scoff at him when the woman—Daphne, apparently, appeared behind the Doctor carrying her blood-soaked sweater and her purse over the arm that wasn't bandaged. She had a little of her color back.

Rin got to his feet. "Are you all right?"

"The sweater's shot to hell, but the arm will heal," she said, almost laughing. She looked at Rin. "Thank you for catching me." And then at Yukio. "And thank _you_ for bringing me here." She turned and thanked the Doctor, shaking his hand and asking if he would get rid of the sweater for her. Surprised, he took it, and she bowed, thanking him again and then approaching Rin and Yukio.

"I gather from your uniforms that you're both exorcists? With the True Cross?" she asked, bowing in greeting and smiling when she straightened. How could she be so cheerful? If an alpha ghoul had taken a bite out of Rin's arm he would have been—well, he would have been fine, but that was beside the point. This woman was human, not half-demon. She should have been down for the count.

Rin just stared at her, his mouth agape while Yukio answered.

"Yes. Senior Exorcists, First Class. I'm Yukio Okumura and this is my brother, Rin."

"A pleasure." She held out her hand, shook with Yukio. "I'm Daphne Lux." She turned her hand to Rin next, but he just looked at her, so she continued, "I wouldn't have been able to eliminate the ghouls on my own. I'm glad you were there."

Rin blinked at her. "Are you sure you're all right?" She didn't seem completely together in the head. "Like, really sure?"

She smiled. "Yes. I'm sure. And I'll be out of your hair now. Thank you again."

She bowed and then she was gone, disappearing through the door with the tinkling of the bells hung over the entrance. Rin looked down. He was still holding her boomerang in his hands.


	3. Part 3

The walk back to her apartment took Daphne over an hour for several reasons: one, Academy Town was a veritable labyrinth; two, blood loss; and three, her damn heels. She'd gone out to explore her new abode that morning, decided to buy and break in a new pair of shoes, moved to Japan on a whim, and accepted a job she was hardly qualified for, all to escape her demons only to find that they had demons in Japan just the same. She'd known this, at the back of her mind, she'd known, but a need to escape, a terrible, silent, choking need for escape had driven her halfway across the world.

It had been nearly two years since she'd exorcised a demon for someone other than herself. The nightmares were going to be terrible tonight.

Shivering without her sweater, she tucked her arms up against her body and hurried up the outdoor steps to her apartment, digging around in her purse for her keys as she went. Only then did she notice a distinctly empty feeling at the base of the back of her neck. Her sickle. It was missing.

She reached up behind her head and tried to summon the blade, but nothing happened because it wasn't there. She'd dropped it on the train tracks. Damn it all to hell. Her throat cinched up, so she tightened her jaw to keep from crying. She would _not_ cry. Not any more, not ever again. Instead she slammed her fist into the wall beside her door, bits of stucco crumbling at the impact. _Damn_ it _all_ to _hell_.

The keys were at the bottom of her purse and in her frustration it took a minute to find them. By the time she did, she'd worked herself up into a fine rage. She shoved the key into the lock, turned sharply, practically kicked the door in and slammed it behind her. The apartment was new. She didn't have any furniture yet and she couldn't remember where the light switch was. As she hunted around on the wall, she saw something out of the corner of her eye.

Was—was that? Was that Hunter lying against the wall? _Crack_ , she was back in Afghanistan, back in Egypt, back in her mother's house in Salem. She was a little girl, a soldier, a captain, she was crying—she found the light switch, flicked it on, and the memory faded instantly, but it left a flood of fear in its wake. Her heart beat rapid-fire like a machine gun and her breath came in gasping masses.

 _Damn_ it. She'd moved to Japan to be free from all this. Her demons had followed her, it seemed.

She set her purse on the counter next to the sink, taking deep breaths and trying to relax the tension from her body. It didn't work. She went to her empty room, well, empty of all but a mattress and a set of sheets, the walls still institutional white. She'd have to get some paint. Blue paint. How about that guy with the blue flames, huh? Weird.

The thought distracted her for a moment. She'd heard of him—the half-demon son of Satan who lived in Japan. She didn't think she would actually _see_ him, but she supposed it made sense that he stuck close to True Cross. He'd trained there, and he was close with Mephisto Pheles. She should have guessed that when that pantaloon-clad weirdo had contacted her out of the blue to offer her a position teaching English at True Cross Academy that the dude had some ulterior motives, but until that moment in her kitchen the thought had never occurred to her. What the hell was she doing in Japan?

Yesterday. Was it really only yesterday that her Boston plane had landed in Tokyo? Only yesterday that she'd climbed into a taxi with barely ten thousand yen in her pocket and asked the driver to take her to Academy Town. Her Japanese was perfect, though. At least she had that. She'd learned it in…in…

She ran from the memories before they could catch her, throwing herself into a pair of pajamas and climbing under the covers of her floor mattress. She left the kitchen light on, but it wasn't enough. Hunter was back. And Melin, and Faisal—Rhoda, Adri and she watched them die again as she had watched them die a thousand times before. Even when she shut her eyes, they were still there. Her throat cinched up again and this time she could not control it.

She wept, and wept herself into a sleepless nightmare where her mother took on the glowing green face of a coltar and beat her until she was senseless.


	4. Part 4

The following Monday, when Rin returned to True Cross Academy and teaching duties, Shura was still MIA as he disgruntledly discovered when he opened the door to the office they shared and all her shit was still in the same place it had been on Friday. Also, she herself was missing, and he knew that sometimes she slept in there when she was too lazy to go home. It used to creep him out, but he'd long since stopped caring about what Shura did or did not wear to bed.

She continued absent through the rest of the morning—through four emergency exorcisms and one old guy who wasn't actually a demon and just hyped up on whatever someone had stuck in his pipe. Rin tried calling her, as he'd tried all weekend and all the week before since she'd vamoosed on Wednesday after cram school, but he only got her machine. He could have strangled her. That old dude had spilled a full canteen all over his shirt, and as the morning went on he'd become less and less certain it was tea.

At noon, Yukio came to get him for lunch.

"Still no Shura?" he asked after poking his head into the office.

"No."

Rin's face was on his desk.

"Where is she?"

He shrugged, shuffling papers underneath him with the movement. "Hell if I know. She won't answer her phone."

Yukio might have said something about hoping she was all right, but it was Shura, so they both knew he wouldn't. It wasn't that they didn't care for her, but more that they could be positive someone _else_ was suffering at her hands and not the other way around.

"You ready to eat?"

Rin sat up. "Born ready."

Yukio's office was the one with the mini-fridge, so he kept the lunches Rin always packed the night before for them until noon when he would come and get his brother and the two of them would eat in the courtyard. Statistically speaking they spent more days eating with just each other than with other people, but sometimes Shura would mooch and Mephisto would pop in or students—who for the most part tended to be scared shitless of one, or the other, or both of them—would ask to sit and they'd swap exorcism stories for school gossip. The dirt some kids had on each other…

Today it was just the two of them. Rin plopped down on one of the benches and waited as Yukio fished the lunches out of a plastic bag. Rin watched as students and staff swarmed around the courtyard in little packs, watched as they paused to talk, to tease, sit in groups and eat. As he watched he saw someone familiar, someone in dark red tights and a black skirt who disappeared around the edge of one of the courtyard archways in a wave of golden hair.

"Holy shit!"

"What?"

"Yukio, that was her!"

"What was her?"

"That woman—that blonde woman, Daphne-something. I swear I just saw her."

Rin got up—he got up and he went the way she went, jogging a little until he turned the corner just in time to see the doors to the "cafeteria" building swing shut. "Cafeteria" because it was True Cross and cafeteria was hardly the word for it. He followed her, but inside the feed-hall it got crazy. With class just out, students were swarming around the meal ticket machines, talking loudly, yelling at each other down the line about what was still available to buy, cutting in line, getting smacked for cutting in line. Rin turned circles for a moment before he spotted her—so he _wasn't_ going insane, that was good—standing in front of the glass display that held all the day's options for meals. A few rays of the sun and the top tip of her moon tattoos showed out along the wide collar of her shirt.

He wriggled his way through the crowd of kids until he was standing right behind her. He didn't know what to say. He noticed on the back of her neck, between the sun and moon, was a series of little stars laid out in a pattern. A constellation, maybe? He didn't recognize it.

She turned around and practically ran into him—sucking in a little gasp and jolting with surprise. She laughed a little, one of those laughs you laugh after you've been scared but there wasn't any actual danger, and seemed to recognize him.

"You startled me," she said.

He still couldn't think of anything to say. "What are you doing here?"

"What are _you_ doing here?"

"I work here."

"So do I."

"Since when?"

"Since…" She pursed her lips in thought. "Well, since today I guess."

"Nobody in the cram school mentioned a new teacher."

"I'm not in the cram school, I'm teaching English."

"I have your boomerang thing in my office."

"You _what?_ "

Was it not a boomerang? "That little curvy demon sword you were throwing at the ghouls. I have it. In my office."

 _Snap_ , she snatched him up by the collar and practically screamed in his face, joyfully, at least, "Glory hallelujah! I could kiss you! Can we go get it, please?"

What was that middle part? He slipped from her grip and took a step back, carefully so she wouldn't notice. He'd forgotten this woman was—well, he didn't know what she was, but she was something else entirely.

"Did you want to go now?"

She nodded eagerly. "Please."

"Okay. Um…this way, I guess."

He motioned with his head for her to follow and he left the cafeteria and started toward his office. She skipped along behind him until she caught up and walked by his side, bouncing like a kid on the way to a toy store.

"It's Okumura, right?"

"What? Oh, yeah." He glanced over at her. He could only remember her first name and he didn't want to guess. She seemed to sense his hesitation because she said, "It's Lux," and smiled. He turned a little pink. She was pretty when she did that.

"I take it you teach in the cram school, then?" she continued.

"Yeah. I help train the Knights. English? Not, exorcism?"

She smiled again, but this time it was sad and she aimed it at the ground. Rin eyed her with curiosity and waited for her answer. He'd seen her in action, he'd seen what a total badass she was. Hardly anyone fought with dual blades—hardly anyone was lucky enough to get their hands on two demon swords in the first place. He would have to ask her about them, if he got the chance. She started talking, so he snapped back to attention.

"I haven't been a public exorcist for a long time. I needed a change and Lord Pheles offered me a position here, so I took it."

"Well, you speak excellent Japanese. For an American."

That got a laugh out of her, and she said thank you as they reached his office door. He put the key in the lock and turned.

He said, "I'm glad we ran into each other."

"Literally."

Then he laughed. "I scoured the phone book for a Lux, but I couldn't find any. I was worried I wouldn't be able to return the blade."

He turned the knob and pushed the door in, gesturing for her to enter first, which she did, saying as she took a look around, "At least you _wanted_ to return it. That thing's worth a pretty penny. Lots of people would have kept it. Or sold it."

Rin nodded. He knew Kurikara was irreplaceable. It was probably the same with the boomerang. He'd locked it in one of his drawers in case Shura came back. If she'd found it… He didn't want to think about the possibilities. Selecting the little desk key, he unlocked the drawer, pulled it open, and retrieved the silver sliver from inside. He held it out to Daphne.

"Helen of Troy!" she cried, taking it from him and pressing her lips to the metal.

Rin raised an eyebrow. "Is that its name?"

She smiled. "Yes." Lifting the sickle, she put her hand behind her head and sheathed it into the back of her neck, evidently into the pattern of stars Rin had noticed earlier. "The other two are Castor and Pollux. They're a trio of Puritan blades. The pilgrims had a habit of naming their handiwork after the heathens."

"I didn't know the Puritans were exorcists."

"They didn't talk about it much."

Well, she had her blade back now. They didn't say anything to each other for a moment. She folded her hands pleasantly in front of her. Rin scratched the back of his head. Then Shura fell out of the stand-up bureau in the corner.

" _Shit!_ "

Rin practically jumped out of his skin and with a glance at Daphne noticed that she had re-summoned Helen of Troy from its sheath and was aiming for the throat. Shura was disentangling herself from the mess of coats and extra bikini tops she kept in the closet.

"What the hell, Shura?"

"Sorry, I was trying to be quiet."

"What are you doing in the cabinet?"

"Hiding, duh."

"I've been busting my butt covering your ass! Where have you been?"

"Where _haven't_ I been?" She laughed and stumbled out, bringing a lot of the closet insides with her as she went. "These boots were made for rambling, kiddo—or something like that. Who's this?"

"Were you in Kyoto again?"

"Is she an exorcist?"

"Osaka? Tell me!"

"Shura Kirigakure," Shura said, extending a hand to Daphne.

Daphne, who was doing a remarkable job not staring at Shura's rack for this being the first time she'd met her, relaxed a little, but did not sheath her sickle. "Daphne Lux."

Shura started at the name, but covered her butt with a smile as the two of them shook hands. "Pleasure. You got more where that came from?" She nodded at the sickle.

Daphne crossed her arms behind her head and drew out her other blades. With a distinctive _shing_ she whipped them out and showed them to Shura. Rin looked too—he hadn't been able to get a good look in Friday night. They were like nothing he'd ever seen, shiny and silver like pure platinum, identical in length and squared off at the ends instead of ending in points. Both blades had inscriptions like the boomerang, but the light glinted off them and he couldn't read it.

Shura shot Rin an impressed look and gave him a thumbs up. "Sweet," she said to Daphne who sheathed the blades.

"Is this where you've—oh, so you did see her— _Shura?_ "

Yukio stood in the doorway. The three of them looked his direction.

"Where have you _been?_ "

"Nice to see you too, four-eyed chicken."

"No, seriously, what the hell? Rin and I have been running around ragged trying to cover for you. If you were in Kyoto again, I'll—"

A loud grumbling interrupted Yukio. He and Shura and Rin all looked in surprise at Daphne who looked in surprise down at her own stomach—the source of the growling.

"Wow, sorry. That was loud." She laughed, covering her stomach with her hands. "I'm hungry, I guess."

Rin glanced at Yukio and the pair of them nodded. He looked back to Daphne. "Would you like to share our lunch?"

Her face lit up at the prospect of a meal. "Really? I'm sorry, it's just, I spent all my yen on a mattress and I've only had ramen for the past couple of days. Lord Pheles is too much of a cheapskate to give me an advance on my paycheck."

"We know the feeling," Yukio chuckled. "It's no trouble, really. It will be easy to split three ways."

Shura pouted out her bottom lip. "Hey, I'm hungry, too."

Rin sent her a flat stare. "Nobody asked you, Shura."

"Brat, share your food." She reached over and slapped Rin up the side of the head and he swatted her away.

"Stop it."

"No."

She moved to slap him again and he dodged her, so she came at him from the other side.

" _Stop_ it."

"Not until you share your food."

" _Stop!_ Get away from me, Shura!"

Daphne looked at Yukio as Rin and Shura started clambering around the office, hollering at one another, dodging and throwing blows whenever there was an opening, obscenities and oaths flying through the air like flocks of birds.

"Are they always like this?" she asked.

Yukio sighed. "More than I care to admit."

He passed her Rin's boxed lunch and together the two of them abandoned the office, and Rin in a chokehold of Shura's, shutting the door as they went.


	5. Part 5

At the end of the regular school day, Mephisto called a general meeting for the cram school staff. Forty or so exorcists piled into one of the classrooms and awaited his arrival. Rin, Shura, and Yukio took seats at the back on top of the desks that lined the wall since all the chairs were occupied. Either this was a life and death situation of the utmost importance or it was an update on a new flavor of instant ramen—that's generally how things went with Mephisto.

"What d'you think this is about, huh?" Shura asked, swinging her legs as they dangled from the desk. "And how long do you think it will take Mephisto to get here?"

"He's already eleven minutes late," Yukio replied after checking his watch. "This could be anything."

Rin folded his arms with a huff. "Well, he'd better get here soon."

"What's with you, pouty?" Shura poked a hard finger into his upper arm. "Meeting ruin your binge plans?"

Rin didn't respond. He'd been hoping to duck down to the foreign language building and try to catch Daphne before she left her classroom. He didn't know why, he just—something about her intrigued him, and it was Shura's fault he hadn't spoken with her at lunch, so he wasn't about to forgive and forget. His silence only served to egg Shura on.

"Aaahhh-ha-ooohhh, somebody's got a pouty face." She put her hands up in the air out in front of her in a bad imitation of a fake gangster pose. "Why you so pouty, pouty-pout?"

At once, at the front of the classroom, Mephisto appeared in a _poof!_ of pink smoke and glitter, swinging his umbrella around on an index finger. Those seated near the front fanned the smoke away from their faces, coughing and scooting back.

"Good afternoon, esteemed associates, thank you _so_ much for coming. Hm-hm-hm." He chuckled a little close-lipped chuckle and winked. "We'll go ahead and get started, then, yes?"

 _Tap-tap_ went his umbrella on the chalk board and a projection screen began lowering from the ceiling. Since when were there projection screens? Or projectors? As Rin glanced around he noticed the room was suddenly dark. Glitter settled from the air as Mephisto stepped to the side of the screen which clicked into place.

"Some of you who teach in the standard Academy may have noticed that we took on a new staff member today."

Somewhere on the ceiling a projector snapped on and a picture of Daphne Lux appeared on the screen. Rin slipped a little off the edge of the desk.

"This is Daphne Olivia Lux," Mephisto continued. "She's a retired Special Ops agent from the United States branch of the Knights of the True Cross. For those of you who don't know, the U.S. branch is militarized. It was absorbed into the Army a few hundred years ago. That being said, the Americans do things very different from the rest of us. Hm-hm."

He cast a meaningful eye over his captive audience.

"At two she received her temptaint, began training for exorcism at eight. At fifteen she had herself legally emancipated from her parents and granted herself permission to join the military."

He flicked through a series of pictures as he spoke, presumably of Daphne, getting progressively older with each of Mephisto's enumerations.

"She moved to the Special Ops division at nineteen and became captain of her own squad at twenty. At twenty-three, she retired. The circumstances of her retirement are unclear, but she was given honorable discharge. She's twenty-five, blood type O positive, prefers cats to dogs, and doesn't listen to Reggae. I've had my eye on her for many years."

Shura nudged Rin and chuckled. "Who doesn't he have his eye on, eh?"

Rin waved her off. He wanted to listen about Daphne.

Mephisto continued, uninterrupted, "Given the nature of her discharge and the sudden private recourse of her exorcist abilities, I offered her a position here teaching English, _but_ I want to see her teaching in the cram school before the year is out, is that understood? She has a particular skill I'd like to pass on to our students. Dual wielding."

Mephisto tapped the screen with the tip of his umbrella, grinning, and the picture changed. It was still Daphne, this time in desert camo, her mouth open in a shout, those long squared blades running out in front of her. Rin could read the inscriptions now. WITH HEALING BALM MY SOUL IS FILLED down one, EVERY FAITHLESS MURMUR STILLED down the other.

A general hubbub went up among the staff. And it wasn't undeserved.

"These are the Puritan demon swords Castor and Pollux," Mephisto elaborated. "She also possesses their sister blade, Helen of Troy. I think the nature of the blades themselves speaks to her skill, but, Miss Kirigakure, if you'd like to say a few words?"

"Sure." Shura slid off the desk, heads turned around to face her. Rin looked up in surprise. Shura knew her?

"The chick's a genius," she said, placing her hand on her hip. "I'd never met her until today, but I'd heard of her. Three or four years ago she was pioneering new techniques in our field. I watched the videos of her the U.S. branch sent over. I can't even begin to describe her skill. To have her on the staff would be a crazy advantage."

Rin had to agree. He hadn't seen much in the tunnel that night, but what he _had_ seen had been incredible, more importantly what he _hadn't_ seen but had heard. Daphne'd taken down an alpha ghoul on her own. That was all the proof he needed.

Mephisto smiled his lip-curled smile. "Thank you, Miss Kirigakure. Hm-hm. That being said I want all of you to be extra-nice to her, okay?" He put up his thumb and pointer finger, winked. "It's your job to recruit her. Make Miss Lux feel welcome. Byeee!"

With a tip of his hat, a wink, and another glitter _poof!_ Mephisto disappeared. The lights flicked on and everyone looked around at each other. Little conversations sprung up here and there, probably regarding Daphne and her blades. Rin stared at the floor.

"I didn't realize she was so skilled," Yukio said, mostly to Shura as Rin wasn't listening.

"She's a total monster," Shura replied. "Seriously. I think I still have the tapes. You should watch them."

"Why'd she quit?"

Shura shook her head and tossed her shoulders. "Nobody knows. Not really anyway."

"Hm." Yukio pressed his lips together. "What are you thinking, Rin?"

Rin grinned. He was thinking Mephisto had given him a good reason to go out of his way to talk to Daphne.


	6. Part 6

Daphne was just finishing organizing her classroom when a knock sounded at the open door.

"Come in," she called and Lord Pheles swept into the room, trailing a strange sweet scent on the air around him. Placing one hand over his heart, he bowed deeply, sweeping his hat off his head with the other.

"Miss Lux, allow me to personally welcome you to True Cross Academy. It's an honor to have you among our staff."

Daphne stared at him. Was everyone here certifiably insane? What was with this place? _This_ was the director? She'd only dealt with him over the phone, when he'd called to offer her the position and when she'd asked for the advance and he'd denied her. His hair…it was absurd. She continued to stare as Mephisto straightened and replaced his hat, winking at her from beneath the brim. Her mouth fell open a little in shock. She'd heard stories, but she didn't think any of them were _true_.

Mephisto glanced around the classroom, settling his hands over the end of his umbrella. "How was your first day, hm?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Your first day. I hope it was pleasant."

It suddenly struck her how rude she had been. "Oh!—I'm, um, sorry, my day was very pleasant. I'm Daphne Lux." This was Japan, not America. She kept forgetting. She bowed, and he followed suit.

"Mephisto Pheles."

"Yes, I gathered that."

They straightened simultaneously, Mephisto looking intently into her eyes, an impish smile on his mouth. She looked back with equal power, so much so that it drew a dark chuckle out of him. His eyes were demon eyes. Samael, King of Time.

"I see that you know me, Miss Lux." He leaned sideways on his umbrella, tilting his head at her. "Not many people do. Tell me, what do you think?"

Daphne eyed him. "I don't know why a demon king like you would choose to hide in such a place as this, or relinquish his power to live so long in Assiah," she said. "Or wear such ridiculous clothing."

"Oh, but you see, I haven't relinquished anything." He leaned forward, smiling, until his nose was only an inch from hers and she could see the sharp glint of his fangs. "And these clothes are not ridiculous, they're _cute_."

"Miss Lux?"

Another knock at the door sounded just after her name and Mephisto turned his head to look, remaining, for the most part unmoved from his position and forcing Daphne to peer around him. Rin Okumura was standing in the doorway, a messenger bag and his sword slung over his shoulders, looking surprised. She was now alone with two very powerful demons. Was this school just a magnet for Satan's spawn?

"Ah, Mr. Okumura, wonderful timing!" Mephisto swept away, sweeping Daphne with him under his arm as he walked gallantly over to Rin. "Mr. Okumura, this is Miss Daphne Lux. She's teaching English with us now."

"Yes, we're acquainted," Daphne said, trying to duck out of Mephisto's grasp and failing as he tightened his grip around her shoulders. When she looked back at Rin, he'd turned a little pink. Mephisto looked down at her in surprise.

"You are?"

"Yes, we met on the train this past weekend." She succeeded finally in wriggling out of his grasp. "Mr. Okumura and his brother were kind enough to take me to a clinic after I was injured."

Mephisto looked at Rin. "You were? Why didn't you mention it before?"

"It wasn't important before," Rin grumbled, scratching the back of his head.

"Well, it's important now!" Mephisto tapped his foot and pouted his lips. "Why did you come down to Miss Lux's classroom, Rin?"

"I was coming to see if she had plans for dinner," Rin snapped, glaring at Mephisto. " _You're_ the one who told us to be nice to her!"

"Oh-ho-ho! You're really getting into the spirit of things, aren't you?"

Mephisto began to laugh, and soon the laughter overtook him and fat tears rolled down his face. Rin squawked at him, yelling various obscenities and waving his arms while Mephisto laughed away, wiping tears from his eyes. Nice to her? Dinner? What on earth was going on?

"I'd love to go to dinner."

Mephisto stopped laughing immediately. Rin's mouth fell open.

" _Really?!_ "

She laughed. "Really."

" _HA!_ " Rin pointed a sharp finger at Mephisto and then laughed gleefully. "Ha- _ha_ - _HA!_ What now, Mephisto? _What now?_ "

Daphne laughed. There was a naiveté about Rin she found refreshing—a sense of justice and determination and humility all at once. Like the world hadn't beaten him down yet, and it never would because he wouldn't let it. He was an idiot, but an idiot with strength and a kind of wisdom that made her trust him, as she had decided to do that night in the train tunnel.

When she laughed, Rin looked at her as if fully realizing the consequences of the preceding moments. He was stunned, to say the least. He kind of just stared at her with his mouth agape and his hand hung loose in the air in front of him. He must have figured she'd turn him down.

"Did you have somewhere in mind?" she asked, smiling.

"Ummm…" He snapped to attention and she watched his mental scrambling. "There's a yakisoba place down in the Middle Ring that's pretty good..."

"My apartment's in the Middle Ring."

"That's perfect then! Oh! Do you like yakisoba?"

Daphne smiled. "Who doesn't?"


	7. Part 7

Rin had figured the possible winnings far outweighed the risk of asking Daphne out to dinner, but he'd never expected she'd actually say _yes_. In spite of having what _he_ considered quite a long list of desirable qualities, he'd never really had much luck with women. Now he walked with one—an _American_ one—down the expansive set of steps which connected the Middle and Upper Rings on the south side of Academy Town. She trailed a little behind him, taking in all the sights and smells Rin had seen and smelled a hundred times while he sweated bullets and tried to think of a topic for a conversation. What did Americans talk about? Football? Hamburgers? Freedom? Either way, Daphne beat him to it.

"Where do you hide your tail?"

He halted midway through a step, turned around and stared at her. She stopped in her tracks, blinking down at him. When he didn't say anything, she spoke again.

"You _do_ have a tail, right? I wasn't imagining that?"

His mouth fell open. " _Of course_ I have a tail!" He threw his hands up in the air. "Why are you asking about it?"

"Because I don't _see_ a tail anywhere," she answered, making a little circle gesture in the air around him with her index finger. "I was curious."

Grumbling, Rin whipped open his shirt, exposing his tail wrapped around his torso twice from his back and ending in the black tuft of fur. Daphne cocked her head to the side, looking with some inquisitiveness.

"You keep it curled up like that all day?" she asked.

Rin started buttoning his shirt from the bottom. "Yes."

"Isn't that tiring?"

"Sure, I'd _rather_ let it be loose all day, but you can't just walk around a school with a tail hanging out the back of your pants." Rin shook his head. It was obviously common sense.

Daphne started laughing—small at first and then quickly spiraling out of her control. She laughed so hard she had to sit down on the steps in front of him.

"You just, like—flashed me," she hooted, covering her face with her hands. "No reluctance—just, _bam!_ Here's my tail!" Tears started falling down her cheeks. "I was just thinking what that must have looked like from the outside."

Rin blushed, but she kept laughing, and soon, it infected him as well. They both laughed, fueling each other until Rin had to sit down next to her.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Daphne said, wiping the tears away from her eyes. "I shouldn't have laughed. Your tail's not funny."

But she started laughing again, burying her face in her hands and giggling like a little girl. Rin watched her, a smile on his face. The woman was a human weapon designed for killing demons—you'd never guess by looking at her that she could whip out a blade a slice your head off in the blink of an eye. It kind of turned him on.

He got up, offering a hand down to help her as well, pushing his thoughts to the back of his mind, and she took it, getting to her feet and reining in her laughter long enough to start back down the steps. The restaurant wasn't far from there and they walked the way in pleasant silence, Daphne still repressing a laugh now and again.

Once inside, the hostess seated them at the back and Daphne scooted into the booth across from him, swinging her purse from around her shoulders onto the plastic leather of the seat as he did with his own bag and Kurikara.

"You ever considered the tattoos?" she asked, gesturing at the sword.

Rin shook his head. "No. To be honest, they kind of freak me out."

She laughed.

"Does it hurt?" he asked.

"After a while, no," she answered. "Hurts like hell the first time, though. The pain dulls, and then you get used to it. Eventually you don't even feel it at all. Did you want to see mine?"

She raised her eyebrows and Rin found himself nodding before he fully realized what he had agreed to. Daphne turned, sweeping her hair forward over one shoulder and dropping her cardigan down into the crooks of her elbows so her back was exposed. Luckily, since she was facing the other direction, she couldn't see him blush. He leaned forward over the table in spite of himself to get a better look at the tattoos.

Up close he could see that the ink had a shine to it, an iridescence that made it shift from blue to black to blue again, to purple, green. The sun and moon were little more than simple outlines, but they were beautifully done, the lines changing thickness here and there to look like ribbon. With Daphne's entire neck exposed, he could see the full layout of the little stars that sat between the sun and moon.

"What constellation is that?" he asked, sitting back.

Daphne pulled her cardigan up over her shoulders, swinging her hair around as well as she turned. "Gemini," she said. "The Twins. The stars of the heads are Castor and Pollux."

"Ah, I see."

"Since I was going to be stuck with them for life, I figured I might as well choose something meaningful." She smiled at him and then picked up her menu. "What's good here?"

"Everything," Rin replied.

A waitress came by, dropped off two glasses of water, asked if they wanted anything else to drink. Rin looked at Daphne and Daphne shook her head, so he did the same. The waitress nodded, saying she'd be back in a minute for their order.

"I feel bad," Daphne said. "This is the second time today you've fed me."

Rin looked up from the menu. "Huh?"

"Your brother gave me your lunch after you and Miss Kirigakure got into that tussle, so technically I owe you lunch and dinner."

He waved both his hands in front of him back and forth in a no-no-no motion. "It's all right," he said. "Don't worry about it."

"Thank you, though. As soon as I get my first check, I'll pay you back."

He shook his head. "Really, don't worry about it. I make lunch at home, so it's really not that expensive."

"You made that?"

"Why is everyone always surprised?"

She laughed. "It was really good! You just don't seem like the cooking kind of guy."

"Well, then, what kind of guy to I seem like?" Rin eyeballed her. He wanted an answer to that question. Nobody had ever given him one.

"I don't know," she laughed. "But not cooking."

The waitress came back. Daphne ordered the chicken yakisoba, which Rin himself had decided on, so he panicked, not knowing what to do and not wanting to look awkward doing it. He scrambled for a moment and then muttered, "Same." The waitress scribbled on her notepad and took their menus as she walked away. Daphne didn't seem to care one way or the other. She sipped her water through her straw.

Rin didn't know what to talk about. He realized as they sat there that he hardly knew anything about her. Only what Mephisto had told the cram school staff and what he himself had watched her do. The one thing he knew they had in common was exorcism, and while he already had a basic outline of her career, he figured he'd start with that.

"So, how did you get your temptaint?"

"Standard exorcist small talk, huh?"

He shrugged, sheepishly.

She smiled. "It's all right. It's been a long time since I've been around exorcists. Temptaints and meisters and all that other jazz doesn't really come up around other people."

Rin nodded in concession, waited for her answer. Took her a moment, she gathered her thoughts, but she spoke.

"It was, ah…coltars," she said, rubbing her left upper arm unconsciously. "My mother, she, uh—she never kept the house clean, and it was old, and when I was little Massachusetts had a few really wet years right in a row, so we got a lot of mold, and the coltars just moved right in. The house was full of them. I was two when they infected me." She sipped at her water.

So she'd been seeing demons since she was little. Like Yukio. Rin knew almost firsthand what that did to a person, seeing as it had happened to his twin. Had Daphne's family been supportive? How had she dealt with demon sight as far back as she could remember?

"What about you?"

"Oh!" He jumped. "Um…well, I never really had a temptaint. I'm half demon, so demon sight kind of comes with the package. I didn't start seeing demons until I was fifteen, though."

She sipped again. "Why is that?"

"My dad— _not_ Satan, my guardian, I guess, Father Fujimoto, he, well, he sealed my demon powers in Kurikara to give me a chance at a normal life, but when Yukio and I were fifteen, Kurikara could no longer contain it and I started seeing demons." He shrugged. "Once I drew the blade I got my fangs and ears and tail."

"Is that why you only flame up when the blade's out?"

Rin nodded.

"Cool," she said, grinning. "You have a Knight meister, then? Any others?"

"No, I'm just a Knight. You?"

"I'm an Aria as well as a Knight," she answered. "I studied for a Dragoon meister for a while, but guns were never really my thing."

He nodded. "Me either."

She nodded along with him, then sighed, not a sad sigh, but a sigh like a weight coming off her shoulders. "It's been a long time since I talked about stuff like this."

"How come?"

Bright to black in a snap, her whole mood changed in an instant. She went quiet, looked at her lap. Sweet hell, what had he done? What should he say? Should he say anything? He didn't know what to do. Thankfully their food came.

The yakisoba seemed to cheer her up a little. They ate. Outside, the sun finally set and the streetlights came on. She picked up the conversation when she was ready. They talked sword technique, they talked movies, food, manga. She read _manga_. This woman was so freaking cool.

Once they'd finished, Rin paid the waitress and they collected their bags, heading out into the night that had fallen on the street. As they passed through the door, Daphne's strange mood resurfaced. Gasping, she fell back a step from Rin, bent over and put her hands on her knees. Rin started, turning as he jumped at her sudden movement. She was breathing raggedly, her face shaded by her waterfall of hair.

He went to her. "Are you all right?"

She didn't answer for a moment, just breathed in and out on shaking, labored breath, doubled over. When she finally looked up there was fear in her eyes, like, real, actual terror. She tried to subdue it, but failed and turned away from him, starting to walk away and saying something about thanks for dinner and she'd be sure to pay him back. Her hands were shaking. She was terrified. He couldn't leave her alone like that. She was already pretty far down the street.

"Hey!" He hurried to catch up with her. "Can I walk you home?"

She halted, looked at him, scared but hopeful, her eyes wide. "Would you?"

Rin nodded. "No problem."

She pulled her hands into the sleeves of her cardigan and folded her arms tight against her chest. "Thank you," she said, looking at the ground. "It's this way." She gestured vaguely ahead of her and started walking. Rin fell into step beside her.

A ways down the street, after walking without word, she chuckled a self-depreciating chuckle and said, "Being walked home by a demon. What kind of exorcist have I become?"

She glanced at him and smiled. Rin blinked, but smiled as well. She was indecipherable.

"Was it difficult?" she asked. "To come to terms with that, I mean."

"With being the son of Satan?"

She nodded, took a turn down a side street into the neighborhood proper.

He followed. "I mean, yeah. But there wasn't really anything I could do about it, you know? I guess I was more worried about if people would accept me. I kept it a secret from my friends for a long time."

"And your brother?"

"He knew before I did. I was the one that gave Yukio his temptaint, so he's been seeing demons since we were kids. He started training to be an exorcist early on. Like you."

 _Shit._ He'd let it slip. She herself had never told him when she started training to be an exorcist. He'd only heard it from Mephisto. He grimaced, waiting for her to call him on it, but silence was her only answer. Eventually he looked over at her and she was looking at the ground in front of them again, lost in thought.

They walked a ways down the street, taking a few more turns in the maze of apartment buildings and houses until they came to a multiplex with six outside doors, three on bottom and three on top. She started climbing the stairs and he followed suit. Hers was the first apartment at the top. She dug around in her purse.

"I'd invite you in, but I don't have any furniture," she said, laughing that self-depreciating laugh again.

"That's all right. I can sit on the floor."

She blinked at him, surprised. Apparently not the answer she'd been expecting, but he wasn't going to leave her yet, not until he was sure she'd be all right. A little flame of fear still danced behind her eyes. He could see it, sense it. He'd stay until she wasn't afraid anymore.

Daphne started out of her stupor, then looked through her bag for her keys some more until she found them. Sticking the key into the lock, she turned it and the knob at the same time and the door popped open after she gave it a little push.

"It sticks," she said.

She went through the doorway into the darkness and flicked a light on as she went, dumping her things on the counter. Rin came in after her.

Jeeze, she really _didn't_ have any furniture. The apartment was literally empty aside from the sink, counter, fridge, and what few other non-movables there were. The door to her room was cracked open. She had a mattress at least. That was good. He made a mental note to bother Mephisto until Daphne had that advance on her paycheck. Nobody deserved to live in an empty apartment by themselves.

"Do you want tea?" she asked, taking her hair and tying it into a knot on the top of her head. How did she do that?

"Um, sure," Rin replied, eyeballing the knot as she went to the cupboard and took out a kettle and two cups, a little tin which was apparently full of tealeaves, other tea things. She filled the kettle with water from the sink and set it on top of the stove to boil.

"I'll be right back," she said, and disappeared into her room.

Rin glanced around. Looked like he _would_ be sitting on the floor. As he took a place against the wall, opposite the stove and kettle, his phone went off in his pocket. Fishing it out, the caller ID let him know it was Yukio on the other end of the line. He hit accept and held the phone to his ear.

"Hey."

"Hey. Where are you?"

She must have gone into the bathroom because a fan turned on somewhere on the other side of the wall he was leaning against. If he spoke softly, she probably wouldn't hear him.

"I'm at Daphne's place. We went out for dinner."

"Why are you whispering? I just got home and you weren't here—wait. _You're in her house?_ "

"Um, yeah…it just sort of happened." Rin scratched the back of his head.

"What? How?" The shock in Yukio's voice painted a lovely image of his stunned expression in Rin's mind. He was pretty shocked himself, come to think of it.

"I don't know, man, she just started freaking out and I felt bad leaving her, so I walked her home, and now she's making tea."

"Freaking out how? What kind of tea?"

"The kind that comes in a tin, and I don't know, she just, like, panicked. Outside the restaurant. She, like, got all bent over and was breathing weird, I don't know. But she was scared as shit."

"Scared of what?"

Rin shook his head. "I don't know."

"Well, Shura's coming over with her tapes. You wanna watch?"

"The military ones? Yeah, definitely. I'll drink the tea and then I'll come."

The fan turned off, a sink turned on, then off. He heard Daphne go to her bedroom door, start to turn the handle.

"Oh, she's coming back. I'll see you later, bye." He hung up the phone and tried to stuff it back in his pocket before Daphne appeared in the kitchen, which he only just managed to do. He smiled up at her from his place on the floor, trying to look the least fishy he could.

"What's with that face?" she asked, chuckling and going to the stove.

Damn. He was a terrible actor. He managed to dodge the question though as the kettle started whistling with the steam that shrieked from its spout and Daphne reached into her cupboards to grab a teapot. She poured the boiling water from the kettle into the teapot, added three scoops of the tea from the tin and placed the lid on the teapot, bringing it over and setting it on the floor in front of Rin. It was shaped like a pig, and you poured the tea out of its mouth with the tail for a handle. It was quite possibly the strangest teapot he'd ever seen. Daphne went back for the cups and a strainer.

"I'm sorry you can't sit in a chair like a human being," she said, taking a seat across from him pretzel-style.

"It's all right. Yukio and I didn't have furniture for a while when we first moved either. I've eaten off the floor plenty of times."

A laugh burst out of Daphne's mouth.

He blushed. " _No,_ not _off_ the floor!"

She waved it away. "I knew what you meant."

She poured the tea, into his cup first, through the strainer. Rin glowered a little bit. Why did he always have to say something stupid? It was like some kind of curse. Yukio didn't even have to do anything and girls followed _him_ around everywhere. Four-eyed mole-face…

"If it's bitter, you can add sugar," Daphne said, picking up her cup and blowing at the steam that rose from the surface of the liquid. Like Kuro, and Usamaro. She looked his way when he'd been staring for too long.

"What?" she said.

"Oh, sorry, nothing…" He picked up his cup of tea and sipped it, warm and strong.

As they drank they talked a little more about nothing—stuff you'd just talk to people about. She asked him questions about Academy Town and the Academy and the Knights of the True Cross, some of which he didn't know the answers to. She skirted around the topic of Mephisto—like she thought she knew something he didn't, but he didn't pry. As they talked, she seemed to relax—the flame of fear in her eyes waning, flickering, and then going out. Rin didn't know if it was the tea or his company, but it was probably a mix of both.

He helped her move the tea things to the sink when they were through and he mentioned something about getting back, so she walked him the several steps to the door and pulled it open. As he stepped outside, she caught him with a string of words.

"Mr. Okumura," she said, holding onto the doorknob and looking at the floor. "Thank you. For dinner, and…for everything." She looked up, at him.

Rin smiled, nodded. "You're welcome. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"You will."

He started off, pausing at the top of the stairs to look back at her over his shoulder. "Until tomorrow, then." And he gave her a wave.

She waved back. "Until tomorrow."

Daphne closed the door and Rin started down the stairs, the beginning of a short walk to the train station and the long ride home to the Lower Ring.


	8. Part 8

Shura pounced on him the second he opened his front door.

"Where ya been, lover boy? Making out?" She wrapped her arms around herself and made a kissy face.

"AH! What? No!"

"Yukio said you were at Daphne's place." She kept making the kissy face.

"Shut up. You told her?" Rin glanced around Shura at Yukio who was in the living room dusting off their old VCR.

"She coerced it out of me," he said.

Shura popped up in front of him. "So you _were_ making out."

"Shut it. No I wasn't." He put his hand in her face and pushed past her, going into the living room and throwing his stuff onto the couch before climbing on himself. Shura followed, jumping on next to him and snatching his neck in the crook of her arm.

"I'm only teasing, grumpy-grump. Chill out."

She made an attempt to noogie his head, but Rin squawked and wriggled out of her grip before she could get more than a few rubs in. He shoved her over on the couch.

"You'd think a few years sharing an office would have made you two a little less provocative of one another," Yukio said, glancing back at them.

"Shura started it!"

Yukio just shook his head and set the VCR in front of the TV, plugging the weird little three pronged cable into the front, then the power cord into the wall.

"Why do you guys still have a VCR?" Shura asked.

"Why do _you_ still have VHS tapes?" Rin retorted.

Shura stuck her tongue out at him. "Because the U.S. military gave them to me, dumbass. You don't just throw that shit away."

"She has a point."

"Shut up, Yukio. You're supposed to be on my side."

Yukio turned on the TV and changed the output to the appropriate cable with the remote, picking up one of the tapes from a stack of three and pushing it into the little slot on the front of the VCR. As soon as it clicked into place it started rewinding.

"I'm not on anybody's side," he said as he stood up and moved to the couch, sitting in between them. " _I'm_ the moderator here."

"Yeah, well, moderate your face."

Shura and Yukio just looked at him.

"What does that even mean?"

"Shut up. Push play."

"It's rewinding."

"GAH!"

Rin threw his hands up in the air and then crossed them against his chest, glowering fiercely at the carpet. Yukio chuckled to himself and shook his head. Shura grinned, but knew better than to prod at him anymore. _Shunk—_ the tape stopped rewinding and Yukio pushed play.

There were a few seconds of black at the beginning, then the seal of the United States of America popped up on the screen, then the seal for the Army, then the seal for the U.S. Branch of the Knights of the True Cross, followed by a warning about capital punishment or something if you let the tapes fall into the wrong hands. Copyright, blah, blah, blah. Finally an old dude in a uniform appeared on the screen. His name at the bottom in English and then in kanji characters below that—Colonel William Jefferies, Knights of the True Cross United States Branch. He started talking, got a few words in in English before a Japanese dub took over:

"Hello. I am Colonel William Jefferies of the United States Branch of the Knights of the True Cross stationed at Fort Bishop, South Carolina. Here at Fort Bishop, we are researching a new demon blade technique and have elected to release this recording detailing the progress made to each branch of the Knights of the True Cross worldwide. We have no interest in claiming exclusive rights to this technique, however much is still unknown about its nature and this could pose many dangers to exorcists wishing to use it. In order to preserve secrecy while still maintaining the flow of information, we will update each branch with appropriate recordings as research progresses. Please do not attempt any of the following until research is complete."

The screen went black. Rin glanced at Shura, but she was still looking at the TV.

"This shit is crazy," she said.

When the picture returned, a younger Daphne in a modified army uniform stood in the center of a circular dirt arena of some kind of facility, lit up by bright overhead lights. From her back she drew one of her blades. The light ran down its surface as she pointed it at the ground. The flat tip met the dirt, the blade stood on end, and, gripping the pommel, Daphne leaned forward over it and lifted herself effortlessly into the air until her legs were straight and she balanced, one handed, on the end of her sword.

Rin's chin nearly met his lap as his mouth fell open.

She remained in her pose for what felt like an eternity to Rin, barely moving—perhaps a hair's breadth here or there—to the point where he began to wonder if the tape had paused. When she finally lowered herself and her feet met the ground, she drew her other sword. This one she took, and, tilting her head back, balanced on the tip of her nose by the blade.

"What the _hell?_ "

Shura whacked his upper arm. "Right?!"

"How is she doing that?"

"I don't know. I've never had the balls to try it myself."

Daphne gripped both swords and moved through an incredibly swift series of stances like none Rin had ever seen or heard of. She was lightning fast, the glare from the overhead lights glinting off her blades as she slashed them through the air. It _was_ a new technique, so new to him, in fact, that watching her he almost felt like he was back in school—meister-less and moronic.

Then Daphne drew her sickle. The tape slowed and the camera zoomed in to better display her exact motions. She seemed to toss the blade in her right hand forward, but instead of going through the air on its trajectory, it remained magnetized to her skin, rolling up over the tips of her fingers and onto the back of her hand where it remained as she reached behind her and summoned the sickle from the Gemini tattoo. The tape sped up, she hurled the sickle, flipped the grip of her blade back into her palm, made a few quick slashes, and then rolled it back up onto the top of her hand to catch the sickle and throw it again.

She went on like that, just one thing after another, for a good five minutes. She even started throwing her swords out like her sickle and recalling them to her hands. Eventually, she began to slow, sheathed her sickle, then one of her blades. She ended balancing as she had before on the pommel. Sweat glistened thick on her skin, but her breathing remained even. The footage cut to black.

 _Shunk._ The tape ended, started to rewind. Somewhere, a clock ticked. Otherwise, the atmosphere was speechless. Mephisto was going to get far more than he bargained for with Daphne.


	9. Part 9

Rin went to bed thinking about the tapes and he woke up thinking about the tapes. He rode the train to the Academy thinking about the tapes and he knew Yukio was thinking about them too. The end of the last had contained a brief interview with Daphne, and that in particular kept playing through his mind.

She'd come on the screen at the end of one of her crazy sequences. Her mouth spoke English but her voice spoke Japanese, and it wasn't her voice. It had been incredibly disorienting to watch her mouth move out of sync with words Rin knew she could haves said herself and wasn't. The voice hadn't fit her at all.

"I call it 'blade bonding'," she had said in her not-her-voice voice. "It is a technique I have practiced for several years now and, as I have come to understand its secrets, have had the desire to share my information with my fellow exorcists. I do not believe I am responsible for its creation. I believe it has always existed and I am merely uncovering it, piece by piece. When it is complete, I hope to teach it."

Rin wondered why she'd left the army.

When they arrived at True Cross, Mephisto was standing with Daphne of all people out in front of the school, making a ridiculous gesture with his umbrella, apparently giving her some kind of grandiose tour. He spotted them before they could duck away.

"Ah, the Misters Okumura," he said slitheringly, sweeping himself and Daphne their direction. "Late for work again, I see."

"Sorry, sir, the train—"

"The train?" Mephisto blinked at them. "Why in Assiah are you riding the _train?_ "

Rin blinked back. "Be…cause…we don't want to walk?"

"Why don't you just use your cram school keys? I gave them to you for a reason." Mephisto cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow. "Or had you not thought of that?"

Rin went practically white with a mix of rage and shock. His mouth hung open, he looked at Yukio who simply shrugged in return.

"I don't believe in using the keys outside of school boundaries," he said. "That's why I never brought it up. And _you_ were too stupid to think of it yourself."

Before Rin could start in on giving Yukio a good beating, Mephisto interrupted.

"I'm giving Miss Lux the grand tour. Care to join us?"

Daphne pulled a face behind Mephisto's back that said she would probably really, really appreciate it if they would. Mephisto could be a handful when he _wasn't_ trying to manipulate something out of you, Rin could only imagine what misplaced suavity he was heaping upon Daphne seeing as he wanted her to teach in the cram school and she hadn't been an exorcist for two years.

"Sure," Rin said and Daphne pretended to wipe sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. Rin grinned, giving a thumbs up. "Yukio's got the pager, right bro?"

Yukio gritted his teeth. "If we're needed, they can reach us, yes."

"Great. Let's go. Where to next, Mephisto?"

"I was thinking perhaps the Supplies Store," Mephisto said, ushering Daphne forward with his arm, though he wasn't touching her and she was scooting about an inch out of his grasp to keep him from doing so. "Rin, you have your keys on you, I assume, though you neglected to use them to get here on time?"

Rin glowered. "Of course I have them."

Mephisto swept his umbrella forward and pointed grandly. "Then lead the way!"

Grumbling, digging in his pockets for his keys, and immediately regretting the decision to join the tour, Rin stalked forward to the nearest door and pulled his keys out just as they reached it. He put the key for the Supplies Store in the lock and opened the door onto the long bridge at the top of the tower that led to the shop and Shiemi's garden and house. Mephisto probably wanted to introduce them. Balance out Shura, who was Daphne's only indication as to what the women at True Cross were like, and she was not the best example.

"We ought to get you a set of keys for yourself, Miss Lux," Mephisto said as they stepped through the door and into the wind that was always blowing up there. "So you can move around the Academy more freely."

"If you trust me with them, I'd be honored, Lord Pheles," she replied, a little curtly.

Rin glanced back at her. She was looking up sideways at Mephisto with quite a bit of undisguised malice, but Mephisto didn't seem to notice, swinging his umbrella and whistling as they crossed the bridge. Rin fell back to break the pair of them up and Yukio took the lead.

He fell into step between them and soon Mephisto moved ahead. Rin wanted to ask Daphne about what he'd seen in the tapes—about how she balanced her sword on her nose without cutting her face off, but he couldn't, so he didn't say anything sensible.

"Did you sleep okay last night?"

"Mr. Okumura, a gentleman never asks a lady how she slept."

He blushed, she snorted and laughed and he blushed more.

"I'm sorry." He wanted to cover his mouth, dig himself a hole, crawl into it, and die. "I don't know why I said that."

She placed a gentle hand on his elbow. "I slept fine. Thank you for asking."

His blush faded and he blinked at her as her fingers slipped from his arm. She smiled and again the sight of it made his heart beat fast—no-no-no-no, he did not need to be involved with this woman. Then again, he was kind of already in it up to his ankles. More like his knees. He was wading thick in Daphne soup, let's face it. He only just managed to keep from sighing.

They reached the end of the bridge. Yukio started up the steps to the shop and Rin followed right behind as Mephisto gestured for him to go ahead. Daphne trailed up last, Mephisto mounting the steps ahead of her and spouting some jargon about the history of the building, the prestige of its products, blah blah blah. He was interrupted by a set of bells that tinkled overhead as Yukio opened the door. Inside, Shiemi looked up from behind the counter, inquisitive at first and then smiling brightly when she saw him.

"Yuki! Good morning! Oh, and Rin, and Lord Pheles, hello, sir! And—"

Her voice caught when she got to Daphne, her wide eyes blinking in ignorant innocence. She probably felt bad that she didn't know Daphne's name like some kind of psychic, but she did stare at her in what Rin could only describe as admiration—a little bit of that Shiemi glow in her cheeks. Mephisto stepped in with introductions.

"Miss Moriyama, this is Miss Lux."

Daphne bowed, and—blushing—Shiemi followed suit.

"We're giving Miss Lux a little tour of the campus," Mephisto continued, Shiemi snapping to attention and hanging on his every word. "We thought your shop might be a good stop, hm?"

Shiemi turned back to Daphne in a flash. "Oh, are you an exorcist?"

"Used to be," Daphne said with a wry smile.

"Miss Lux is teaching English at the Academy," Mephisto supplied. "While she no longer practices exorcism publicly, I thought she might like to know where she could get supplies if she needed them."

"Speaking of," Daphne put in, "I could use a few liters of holy water if you have any?"

"Of course!" Shiemi slapped a fist onto her palm. "I'll go get it for you right away!" She dashed out the door behind the counter, but was back in a matter of seconds, red around the ears. "Actually, we have a few different grades from a few different areas, if you want to come take a look yourself?"

Daphne smiled. "Sure," she said, and stepped around the counter to follow Shiemi.

The women disappeared and Rin, Yukio, and Mephisto were left to poke around the shop and all its various bottles and boxes. Yukio began pulling supplies from the shelves. Rin approached Mephisto who was inspecting a Venus fly trap growing in a pot on one of the windowsills.

"If you want her to work at the cram school so bad, you should give her the advance on her paycheck," Rin said, tucking his hands into his pockets and leaning against one a wall of shelves, trying to look cool and collected.

"Hmm." Mephisto tapped his chin. "I believe you're right."

What? It was that _easy?_ Rin tried not to show his surprise, but a little of it leaked out through his eyes. And he slipped off the wall.

"I'll see that she gets that by the end of the day. Thank you, Rin."

Mephisto winked at him and Rin glowered.

"Yeah, sure, no problem," he grumbled.

"You and Miss Lux seem to be getting along well, hm?" Mephisto gave him a dark and knowing look, the corners of his lips curling up.

"Don't make that face at me," Rin snipped, fluttering his hand in Mephisto's face. "She's cool, that's all."

"All? Hm-hm-hm."

He chuckled, so Rin tried to knock his hat off his head but he caught it by the rim and it stayed on his head.

"My, my, you certainly are sensitive about the topic, aren't you?"

"Shut up, Mephisto."

Rin folded his arms in a huff. Daphne and Shiemi returned, Daphne carrying two two-liter bottles of holy water in her arms. She began digging through her pockets, balancing the bottles rather expertly, but Shiemi put out a hand.

"Oh, no, don't worry about it. You can take that for free. A welcome gift." She folded her hands together in front of her and smiled glowingly.

"Really?" Daphne looked surprised, but stopped rooting around in her pockets. "Thank you." She bowed in gratitude and Shiemi let out a little "eep!" and did the same, blushing again.

Rin breathed a sigh of relief. He knew Daphne didn't have hardly any money. Well, she wouldn't until the end of the day. He made a mental note to remind Mephisto to cut her a check in case he forgot.

"Oh, I just remembered!" Shiemi cried, slapping her fist to her palm again. "Mother agreed to watch the shop this morning so would it be all right if I sat in on the demon pharmaceuticals class again? And if I ate lunch with you and Rin?"

"You don't have to ask, Shiemi," Yukio replied. Without looking at her he went to the counter and began bagging up the items he'd pulled from the shelves.

"Well, are you sure it's okay?"

"Of course it's okay. We talked about it, didn't we?"

"It just seems like—" She glanced at Mephisto and Rin and Daphne all of whom were staring at her, but looked away right on cue. She began to whisper. "—like you're upset."

"I'm not upset," he replied, sounding upset. He took the bag from the counter and stomped toward the door. "Well, if you're going to come, then come," he said, and disappeared down the steps. Shiemi hurried after him.

Mephisto, Daphne, and Rin exchanged expressions before following. By the time they made it to the door and the steps, Shiemi and Yukio were already partway onto the bridge and moving fast. The three of them began their descent.

"Are they together?" Daphne asked, resituating her holy water in her arms.

"It's complicated," Rin replied. "On again off again. They've been that way for years." He didn't mention the brief time when _he_ and Shiemi had gone out, figuring it was better not to complicate the matter more. "What are you going to do with that stuff anyway?" He pointed at the bottles in her arms.

"Oh, I wash my hair with it."

Rin halted. "Seriously?"

His sudden stop startled her and she stopped half-step as well. "Yeah?"

"Why?"

"Because it's long," she said. "If a demon grabs hold of it, it could pull me down, so I wash it with holy water so the demon gets burned instead. Here." She grabbed hold of her hair and held it out to him.

"Oh-no, no, that's okay. I believe you." Rin shook his head and his hands, taking a step away from her.

She laughed, tossing her hair back and sweeping away from him with a very Mephisto-like wink. "Only teasing," she trilled.

Rin stuck his hand out slyly as she moved away and her hair fluttered behind her, just to see, and _fzzt_ , he got a little shock to the finger. He sucked his hand back to his body, shaking it out and grimacing. That actually _hurt_. He lingered a little to watch her walk away.

Mephisto caught him. "Mr. Okumura! Don't dawdle, we've got the rest of the school to show Miss Lux," he shouted over the breeze. "Come along, now!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming."

His finger still smarting, Rin hurried to catch up.


	10. Part 10

Shura convinced Daphne to go out for drinks that night after work and the following morning a miracle happened. Yukio and Rin opened the door to Rin and Shura's office and Yukio dropped the stack of graded tests he'd been holding to the ground. Paper fluttered everywhere.

"Shura…you're wearing a _shirt?_ "

And she was. A white t-shirt. It was tight, but it was a shirt. Rin's mouth hung open.

"What? Oh, yeah," Shura said, glancing down as if she'd forgotten. "Daphne was telling me all these horror stories about what happens to your boobs when you age, so I decided to start wearing a bra and that just looks stupid without a shirt, so…" She shrugged. As if a too-small bikini top looked less stupid than a bra without a shirt.

Rin nearly fell to his knees to praise Daphne, Goddess of Light, but he managed to stay on his feet. Ten years. Ten long, agonizing years spent making a straining effort to keep his eyes on Shura's face and the struggle was finally over. It was done. He could have cried tears of joy.

Later at lunch Rin caught Daphne on her way to the cafeteria and asked her about what she'd said to Shura.

"Oh, yeah, that." She pulled a face at the floor. "Well I mean I didn't _lie_ to her, per se, but it was more for my benefit than hers. I couldn't stand looking at those things anymore. It's like they have a mind of their own, you know? Ten brownie points to you boys for managing them for so many years."

Rin raised an eyebrow. "Brownie points?"

"You know, like when you do something good you get—you know what, never mind. I can't explain that."

"So, do you like, earn points towards brownies?"

Daphne laughed. "Sure, yeah. That's what you do."

His eyes glittered. "For real? That's awesome! How many do you need?"

"Um…twenty?"

"And I've got ten?"

"I guess so…"

"YES! Half way!"

He pumped a fist in the air. Arbitrary points for brownies? America was awesome. All of a sudden he felt Daphne's lips on his cheek and he froze, his blood gone chill. He stared at her; she smiled at him.

"You're pretty damn adorable," she said and left him standing there in the middle of the hallway, completely stunned.

* * *

Several months slipped by and Daphne fell right into place at the Academy and in Rin's life. Yukio spent so much extra time working and Rin and Shura bothered each other too much for them to spend more than a few hours together outside of class and the office. Once upon a time he would have hung out with Shiemi, but the pair of them seemed to have grown out of one another. They were still friends, and good ones, but a little more distant than they'd been in the past. Rin spent most of his time by himself or with Kuro but Kuro wasn't always around, so when Daphne, who had just as much free time, and just as much of a lack of hang-out buddies as he did, came along, it simply made sense for them to spend that free time together. Besides, she was fun.

She began eating lunch with him and Yukio, going out with Shura and the rest of the cram school staff on weekends. Rin never seemed to run out of things to talk about with her. It was just one thing after another, though she hardly ever talked about her past, sometimes she did that weird freak-out thing she had that night at the restaurant, but that was as close as she ever came. Her favorite band was Van Halen, she liked sushi but only tempura rolls, she'd had a cat back home and had given it to a neighbor girl. And she was just as interested in his life as he was in hers. By the time spring rolled around she knew all there was to know about him and Yukio, about Father Fujimoto, his flames, his ups and downs. He was surprised—and also somehow _not_ —to think how quickly he and Daphne had become such close friends. _Best_ friends, he would have said.

Then, one day, she just started talking—talking about her life before Japan. Her childhood. It was a Saturday, the first warm day in weeks, and she and Rin were lying in the sun at the top of a grassy hill in the park near his and Yukio's apartment in the Lower Ring.

. "My mother used to hit me," she said.

Rin wasn't quite sure he'd heard her right. "What?"

"When I was little. She used to hit me. With whatever she could find, or her hands, and tell me not to see demons anymore."

Rin sat up. He looked down at her. She was looking at the sky, but she glanced his direction for a moment.

"Oh my god, Daphne, I'm so _sorry_ …"

"It's okay," she replied. "It worked out in the end, I guess."

" _How?_ " Stuff like that didn't just work itself out.

"Father Michael. I begged him to take away my demon sight, but you can't do that, so he offered to train me to fight back instead. I did. I didn't have a choice. Kids at school used to bully me. You'd think that in Salem there would be this big following after exorcism and demons and stuff, but it's the opposite. Hardly anybody even has a temptaint, a real one anyway. Plenty of people are into the occult and witchcraft and all that, but none of them can see or summon actual demons. So nobody believed me."

"How did you deal with that?"

She sat up to be eye-level with him. "I didn't for a long time. I used to think I was wicked for seeing demons. My mother told me so. I thought I deserved her punishment." Tears filled her eyes and she fought them down for a moment before a few spilled over onto her cheeks. Rin took her hand, gave it a reassuring squeeze. She cried then, for a little while, saying nothing more. Rin let her.

"Sorry for throwing that on you," she said eventually, wiping at her nose and laughing a pathetic little laugh. "I just thought…I should tell you…"

"Don't be sorry. I'm glad you did."

"Thanks for listening."

"Sure."

She looked like she needed a hug, so he gave her one, and as he put his arms around her he realized he wasn't burning. Had she stopped washing her hair in holy water for _him?_


	11. Part 11

When Rin answered the door he was greeted by a water bottle and hand towel that came flying at his face. He barely caught the water bottle; the towel landed on his head. He stared in disbelief at Daphne who stood on his doorstep, grinning.

"Come spar with me," she said.

"Right now?" The towel slipped from Rin's head. Daphne? _Daphne_ wanted to _spar?_

"Yeah. What? Do you have pressing plans? It's Saturday. I'm surprised you're even awake."

He _was_ still in his pajamas. Shit. It was too late to close the door. He stood grimacing for a second and Kuro wandered into the front room from the kitchen, curious.

" _Who is it, Rin?_ "

"It's Daphne." He stepped out of the doorway to allow Kuro to see onto the porch.

" _Daphne!_ " Kuro let out a happy mew and scampered forward to meet Daphne who bent down to pet him. They'd taken an instant liking to each other when they'd first met. Daphne had bowed to Kuro like someone would have at his shrine once upon a time and the gesture had instantly won Kuro over. Daphne looked up from petting the cat sidhe.

"So, how 'bout it?" she said. "I was thinking we could do sukiyaki. If you win, I'll buy it, and if I win, you'll cook it."

"But either way we're eating sukiyaki…"

"That's kind of the point, dumbass."

Rin grinned at her. "All right, then. You're on."

" _Sukiyaki! Sukiyaki! Sukiyaki!_ " Kuro danced happily in circles around Rin's legs. " _You're the best, Daphne!_ "

Smiling, she patted the cat sidhe on the head. "What did he say?" she asked, glancing up.

Rin had never quite figured out how Daphne was able to tell when Kuro had spoken, but she was. She didn't seem able to distinguish words for herself, but she always knew when he said something, particularly if Kuro was addressing her. Then again, Rin didn't really understand exactly how it was that he himself could talk to Kuro in the first place, so he'd never really tried to figure it out.

"He said you're the best," he replied.

"Aw, thank you, Kuro. You're pretty fantastic yourself." She gave him a few final pats and then stood up. "Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Go get changed. Unless you want to go to the gym in your pajamas."

Right. He'd forgotten again.

"I'll be back," Rin said, and hurried into the house to put on some workout clothes. On his way back out he grabbed Kurikara and his wallet and when he got to the porch, Daphne was showing Kuro a few leg stretches.

"You ready?" she asked, straightening up as Kuro tipped over.

Rin nodded. "Let's go."

They jogged to True Cross Academy, and Rin nearly passed out on the stairs to the Upper Ring, his legs burning. He was in decent shape, or so he'd thought, but what was supposed to be a warm up had him hurting before they even got to the gym. Daphne just chuckled at him, stretching at the top of the stairs while he panted his way up.

"Holy… _shit,_ " he breathed once he reached her, collapsing at her feet.

"Something tells me this will be an easy match to win."

"Don't be so…sure."

Perhaps the statement would have been more convincing if he'd been able to get it out in one breath. As it was, Daphne just laughed and pulled him to his feet.

Once they got to the gym—appropriately empty for a Saturday morning at a school—Daphne shed her sweatshirt and shoes, tucking them off to the side. Rin set his stuff next to hers and removed Kurikara from its cloth. Daphne walked out into the sparing ring, just a circle painted on the mat on the floor.

"You know, you wouldn't have to deal with carrying that thing around if you just got the tattoos." She crossed her hands behind her head and drew Castor and Pollux from her shoulders.

Rin shook his head. "No thanks." Even just watching Daphne do it gave him the jibblies.

"I came here to get away from all of this," she mused, turning one of the blades over in her hand as she inspected it. "Pretty stupid, huh?"

"Maybe you don't need to get away from it," Rin replied.

Daphne looked at him, totally silent, and she kept looking so he started to get all shifty, but he wouldn't take it back. He of all people understood that you couldn't run away from who you were—and being an exorcist seemed just as much a part of Daphne's DNA as being half-demon was part of his. He stepped into the ring.

"Come on, then. Let's do this."

Daphne secured her grip on her blades and fell into a basic stance. Rin followed suit, and they eyed each other for a second, both waiting for the other to make the first move.

Mephisto had been putting a lot of pressure on Rin as of late. He was the closest with Daphne and Mephisto's deadline for getting her to teach in the cram school was fast approaching along with the end of the school year. Rin didn't really know how to get her to talk about it aside from just flat out asking, and _that_ obviously wouldn't work, so he'd just kind of left it alone and dealt with Mephisto's little outbursts as they came up.

Daphne led an attack, stepping swiftly forward and bringing one of the blades up to bear. Rin countered, so did Daphne, swinging her other blade around so Rin had to counter that one as well, but he was ready.

"You gonna draw that thing?" Daphne asked, taking another swipe at his head.

Rin dodged. "No."

"Is this how you always fight?" Swipe, swipe, dodge.

"I don't know how things work in America, but around here people tend to freak out when they see blue flame. I think it might have something to do with, oh, I don't know, _Satan_."

Daphne laughed, ducking the next two moves he made at her left and right sides and countering with a quick slice of her own.

"Americans love blue flame," she said. "Very patriotic."

Then she kicked it up a notch.

Sparring against Daphne only served to remind Rin why Mephisto wanted her in the first place. She was a beast. So much speed, so much agility. She was an equal—no, _greater_ match for him, at least in his human form. Only a minute under her new attack and Rin had no choice if he wanted to win. He drew Kurikara.

"That's more like it!" Daphne grinned, the blue light of his flames illuminating her face and her eyes. Somehow, she managed to come at him with even _more_ speed.

Rin was stronger now, better aware of his surroundings and Daphne's movement, but even then she kept him at bay. Some kind of energy was generating as he worked, as _they_ worked. Rin could feel it start to buzz and crackle in the air, but he ignored it. He had to. Daphne went right, he went left. He took two steps forward, she took two steps back. Kurikara clashed against Castor, then Pollux, making that distinctive metallic clang that happened only when two demon swords collided. Dodge, swipe, dodge. They fought and fought and fought, but neither could gain the upper hand. It got difficult to take enough air in to keep going. Daphne started to slow as well. He swung at her, but the motion was weak and sloppy. Daphne only just managed to block it even so.

They both stepped back in sync. Hesitated for a moment. They were breathing so heavily it seemed like they might filter all the oxygen out of the room and suffocate themselves. Then Daphne grinned. She threw her swords down and collapsed on the mat, spreading her arms out and going completely limp. Rin followed her lead. He sheathed Kurikara and then rolled over onto his back. The mat was so wonderfully cold on his skin.

"Should we call it a tie?"

It took Rin a second to gather enough air. "We didn't decide what to do for a tie."

Daphne laughed, but it barely made any sound. She was quiet for a moment, breathing deep. "I'll still buy sukiyaki. If you want it."

 _If_ he still wanted it? What kind of a question was that? Rin scoffed. "Duh."

Laughing again, Daphne rolled over and scooted across the mat so her face was right above his. She smiled, then slapped his chest.

"Let's go."

* * *

From the shadows of the observation deck up above the gym, Mephisto watched as Daphne struggled to her feet, then pulled Rin to his. A smile spread out across his mouth. Together the pair of them fighting was more powerful than they realized, more powerful than even _he_ had anticipated. That was good. It would be needed. Those distant rumblings in Gehenna demanded his attention. He would have her on his staff. So help him, he would. It was just a matter of whether or not what was coming would arrive before they were ready.


	12. Part 12

Even though Kuro didn't spar, he still got a generous helping of the sukiyaki once it was cooked. He practically inhaled it, and Daphne just gave him more, so the three of them ate and talked and Daphne laughed as Rin and Kuro fought over the last of the meal.

"You didn't even _do_ anything, Kuro."

" _That's not the point, Rin._ " The cat sidhe hooked the dish with his paw and pulled it back toward himself. " _Daphne said I could._ "

"No she didn't!"

" _Did to!_ "

Rin yanked the plate away. "Daphne, did you say Kuro could have the rest of this?"

Daphne put her hands up. "I'm staying out of this one."

Rin gave Kuro a flat stare. "See?"

" _Well I'm hungrier._ "

Kuro got hold of one side of the dish, but Rin didn't let go of the other.

"How could you possibly know that? You have no idea how hungry I am!"

"My lord, _here_." Daphne grabbed the plate from their hands and split everything down the middle, giving half to Kuro and then passing the rest over to Rin. She raised her eyebrows. "Satisfied?"

"Yeah," Rin grumbled.

Kuro was already halfway finished with his portion. Rin ate his somewhat sullenly. Stupid cat. He probably couldn't even taste it he was eating so fast. As soon as they were done, Daphne stood and gathered up the plates.

"I'll do dishes."

Rin got up and followed her. "No. That's okay."

"You cooked. You shouldn't have to wash." She set their plates in the sink, turned the water on. She reached for the sponge, too, but Rin grabbed it before her.

"Really, Daphne. Don't worry about it. I'll do them."

Folding her arms across her chest, Daphne gave him a look. Then she held out her hand. The sink was still running. Rin adjusted his grip on the sponge. Daphne kept staring at him, her hand out in the air in front of her, waiting and expectant. Finally, Rin broke.

"Fine. Here," he grumbled and slapped the sponge into her open palm.

"Thank you," she replied.

Grumbling, he started to walk away, but had turned around and was back at the sink only seconds later.

"Can I dry at least?" he asked.

Daphne smiled. "I wouldn't say no to help."

He grabbed a hand towel and Daphne went to work on the plates, passing them over as soon as they were clean. He admired the quick, careful movements of her arms as she scrubbed, humming a little, maybe unconsciously, to herself. It reminded him of her fighting technique—which was kind of bizarre considering she was just washing the stupid dishes—but the precision and thoughtfulness behind each and every action she took spoke volumes to how innate and ingrained exorcism was in her blood. It was so _beautiful._

Rin was closer to her, and closer still, and he didn't quite know what he was doing but his arm was around her waist and he was even _closer_ and then Daphne looked over at him and her mouth was just there so he kissed her. Then he went flying backwards and left her standing at the sink, stunned.

Daphne blinked.

"I'm sorry!"

"No, no," she said. Then she blushed.

Rin had never seen her blush before. "I…um…"

"Um."

"I'm sorry, I don't know…"

"No, Rin. I…" She took a breath in and shook her head, glancing at the ground. "I don't know how else to say it, and it sounds so grade school, but… I like you. A lot. Like a lot a lot." Her eyes met his as she looked up.

Wait, what? Rin stared at her. Had he really just heard what he thought he just heard? Daphne—she—" _What?_ "

She looked away. "That was a stupid way to say it."

"No, it's not that. It's just—you're so amazing and I'm—"

In a flash, she cut him off with a kiss, her sopping and soapy hands around the back of his head and in his hair.

"Don't you _dare_ finish that sentence," she said. "You are _everything_."

She kissed him again and— _spark—_ the world ignited between them. Until that moment, Rin never would have guessed that kissing someone could feel like this—like all the lights were on. It had never happened to him before. Kissing Daphne was _exciting,_ but it was also familiar, kind of like some deep, dormant part of his mind had always known that she was out there and that her soul was meant for his. Pulling back, Rin laughed. There didn't seem to be any other way to react. And she laughed too, and they laughed and hung onto each other and Rin didn't know the last time he had been so happy.

"Well?" she said.

"Well what?"

"Are we, I don't know, together now?"

Rin looked at her, straight across, right at his eye level, at the strange and wonderful woman who had walked into his life and changed it forever.

"Do you want to be?"

Daphne smiled. "Yes."

Rin smiled too, and he couldn't help it, so he kissed her again. And again. And again.


	13. Part 13

Rin about had a heart attack when Yukio made a whole hell of a lot of noise coming in through the front door. He and Daphne had been sitting kissing on the couch, and he would have flown across the room had Daphne not grabbed his arm and kept him from going through the ceiling or out a window. It made her laugh. Probably he'd never had to play it cool in a situation like this. Then again, neither had she.

Slipping her hand into Rin's and smiling, Daphne leaned around him to look at his brother when Yukio finally turned around from relocking the door. He was completely trashed out.

"Rough night?" she asked, chuckling.

Yukio didn't really reply, just mumbled something unintelligible and sighed. The ends of the hairs on the left side of his head were slightly singed.

"There's leftover sukiyaki in the fridge," Daphne continued.

Rin looked at her. "There is?"

"Yes. I set some aside right after you finished cooking because I knew you and Kuro wouldn't want to save him any."

Rin scowled, but the expression came with a little nod that she was probably right. Yukio had opened the refrigerator door in the meantime and was looking inside, scratching the burned part of his head as he tried to locate the food, so Daphne got up to help him find it.

"Right here," she said, bending over and grabbing a few plastic containers from the bottom shelf where she'd hidden them. "Go sit down. I'll reheat it for you."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. You look like you could use it," she replied, already opening lids and putting the containers into the microwave.

"Thank you, Lux."

She smiled at him. "Of course."

Sighing again, Yukio dragged himself into the living room and collapsed next to Rin on the couch. Daphne started the microwave. Rin and Yukio were silent for a moment.

"What?" Yukio said eventually.

"What what?"

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Looking at you like what? I'm not looking at you like anything jeeze, Yukio, quit overreacting, would you?"

Shaking her head, Daphne laughed to herself. Oh, Rin. Rin, Rin, Rin. What had she gotten herself into? Her mind and heart were still whirling, calm though she made her face appear. She'd never felt this way about anyone before. Giddy, safe, optimistic. Hell, she'd neverfelt _optimistic_ before. The microwave beeped.

Daphne arranged all the containers on a plate with a set of chopsticks and brought it into the living room to set in front of Yukio on the coffee table. He thanked her again, that sad look of absolute sincerity drawing his brows together as he spoke. She smiled and waved him off.

"Don't worry about it. Dig in."

He did and she climbed back onto the couch between him and Rin, tucking her legs up against her chest, and took hold of Rin's hand again. He tried to dodge her, and tried to wiggle his hand free once she had it, but she tightened her grip.

"Don't even think about it."

"Huhn?" Yukio looked over at her with a mouth full of sukiyaki.

Daphne held up Rin's hand in hers. "He's trying to escape so he won't have to tell you that this is a thing now."

"Daphne!"

She looked at Rin. "Am I wrong?"

He didn't have an answer for that. His mouth fell open and he tried to formulate a couple of words, but nothing came out.

Swallowing his food, Yukio nodded contemplatively. "At least one of the members of the relationship is an adult."

Rin sent a fierce glare Yukio's way and Daphne laughed, so he glared at her, too, but she could see behind it that he was grateful. Any potential awkward conversation was now out of the way. Yukio was focused on his food and wouldn't have had much to say regardless. What Rin lacked in social decorum, Yukio made up for in stoicism. As individuals, they almost couldn't have been more different. Daphne didn't have siblings, but she still thought it was a phenomenon that you could have more in common with a stranger than your own blood.

"So?" she prompted, settling down and leaning against Rin who consented to put his arm around her shoulders now that he had nothing to hide. "What happened out there?"

"You mean this?" Yukio asked, outlining the burned portion of his hair with an irritated index finger.

Laughing, Daphne nodded. "Looks like fun."

"It wasn't." He pulled a face as he scooped more sukiyaki into his mouth and chewed a little before answering. "They were new demons. New to Japan, at least. We'd never encountered them before and it took us a little too long to regroup and figure out how to exorcise them."

"Kin of Iblis I'm guessing, given the singe marks?"

He nodded. "Powerful, too. They were weird. I've never seen anything like them."

"What did they look like?" Rin asked, interested now apparently.

"Well, they could breathe fire, obviously. Three heads—two like a goat and one like a snake—on a human body, but they have goat feet. The skin looks like ash or wood or sand or something, and the insides of their mouths glow. Lots of teeth."

In an instant, Daphne was back in the desert. That mild Afghanistan wind was whipping by her face carrying grains upon grains upon grains of sand and just ahead of her was her team and ahead of her team were demons. Three-headed demons. Demons with lots of teeth and glowing mouths who breathed great clouds of fire into the hot air. An air raid siren wailed into the wind, into the sand and the heat from the fire and overhead a plane roared through the sky and Daphne knew the bombs would start falling in five, four, three, two—

"Daphne? _Daphne?_ "

She jolted back at the sound of her name and Rin's shaking the hand he held in his own. Both he and Yukio were looking at her with concern. She could feel the sweat on her skin, cold now. A little more attention to her body and she sensed her pulse and breathing, both of which were rapid and out-of-balance.

"Are you okay?"

No. She was not okay. She had never been okay.

But she would never say so.

"Yeah…" she breathed. It didn't sound very convincing.

Yukio eyed her, but continued, turning his gaze to Rin. "Mephisto wants me to take you to where we encountered them and see if you can tell us anything about what they might be, then write a full report. We also need to find out if anyone in another branch has seen them before."

Oh, they'd been seen before. Daphne had seen them. She'd seen hundreds of them. Seen them swallow sand and spit it back out in burning crystals, seen them disappear under the ground in the blink of an eye, seen them grab Adri by the throat and—

She was on her feet in the next second and gathering her bag and things, nearly to the door before Rin or Yukio had a chance to react.

"Daphne," Rin said, getting up after her but hovering halfway between the couch and fully standing. "What are you doing?"

"I have to go," she answered.

"What? Where?"

Nothing. Nowhere. She just had to get out. She had to be alone before the panic attack fully set in. Before she got lost in her memories and hallucinations of everything she'd seen and done since she'd started seeing demons as a toddler. What kind of life was that, huh? How was that fair? She'd just been a little kid. Just a kid. She slipped her shoes onto her feet.

"I have papers to grade," she replied. Her heart was beating fast. She could see, hear, smell her house in Salem. It always started there. The dense, black cloud of coltars that filled the attic, the sting of a wooden spoon broken over her open palms. "I—I have a stack—in my desk, in my drawer that—that haven't been graded. I forgot."

Without saying goodbye, she opened the door and disappeared sprinting down the street.

* * *

Rin stood staring at the door for second with his mouth hanging open before whirling around and glaring at Yukio.

"Thanks a lot," he snapped.

"For _what?_ I didn't _do_ anything."

Yukio looked just as dumbfounded as Rin felt. What the hell _was_ that? What had come over Daphne? It had been months it seemed like since she'd had one of her weird freak-outs. He was certain it had something to do with what Yukio had been telling her about the demons. That, or Rin was a horrible kisser and she needed an excuse to get away from him. He really hoped it wasn't the latter.

"You made Daphne leave," he said.

"No I didn't, she left of her own free will."

"Did that look like free will to you?"

When Daphne did get panicky, she also got escape-y. She was in the habit of running away. That was the reason she was even in Japan in the first place.

"Should you follow her?" Yukio asked.

"I don't know!" Rin threw his hands out. Was there a risk Daphne might draw one of her blades and attack him? Probably. Rin just didn't know how big that risk was.

"I'll take Kurikara," he decided.

He was quick, gathering his sword and dashing out the door to go after Daphne. She would have headed home, so he turned left and took off running.

She was a speedy one, that woman. He was a block or so away from her apartment when he finally caught up to her, and even then only because she'd paused to catch her breath. She was doubled over just ahead of him, standing under the light of a lamppost, shaking.

"Daphne!"

Her head snapped up, her face turned toward him. She looked like she was about to turn on her heel and keep running, but her feet seemed stuck to the pavement. Her hesitation was just enough for Rin to push through, his calf muscles screaming in his final sprint, and reach her before she could get going.

"Hey." He caught her hand, pulled her to a stop. "Daph. Talk to me."

Her breathing was all kinds of out-of-control, whether from her run or her anxiety, Rin couldn't tell. She just kind of stood there, breathing funny, almost gasping while he tried to catch her eye and she stared at the sidewalk.

"I—I don't know how to, Rin."

She looked up finally, right into his eyes. All those fears were back—that flickering flame that lurked in the back of her gaze. Rin had seen it before, that night when they'd first gone out to dinner. At least now he had a small idea of what was behind it.

"That's okay," he said. She didn't _look_ like she would go into attack mode, so he secured her hand a little better, lacing his fingers with hers. "You don't have to."

She nodded, swallowing, then swallowing again like her mouth was dry. "Thank you."

They stood like that for a moment, Daphne staring at the ground with her glassy, terrified eyes and Rin holding her hand. He didn't know what to do. He wanted to help her, but how was he even supposed to start? How was he supposed to fix almost twenty-five years of trauma? He couldn't. He knew that. Besides, Daphne didn't need to be _fixed_. She wasn't broken. But it hurt him to see her like this. She couldn't have been happy.

"I'm sorry," she breathed. "I don't mean to do this to you. I just…I can't…I can't control it." Her hand tightened around his.

"It's okay, Daph," he replied. "You don't have to apologize."

She took in a deep gulp of air, then nodded. Her breathing seemed to level out a little after that. Slowly, Rin drew her closer to him and when she did not pull away, wrapped her up in a hug. She returned it, closing her arms around his back. They were quiet for a moment, then she spoke.

"When I see it…it's like it's happening all over again."

"See what?"

"Everything."

He leaned away to look at her. Tears had welled up in her eyes and a few of them spilled over when he met her gaze. Rin knew about her mom. That was it. He knew about a little sliver of the work Daphne had done in the Army because of the tapes, but _that_ was it. What had happened to a person as strong and capable as Daphne to bring her down to this shambling shaking mess sometimes? He didn't know how to talk about it himself, so he could hardly blame Daphne for the same.

"Whatever you want to say, Daphne, I want to listen."

She shook her head. "Not right now."

"All right."

That was the best Rin could do. He wouldn't push her, just be there when she was ready or needed somebody. He was he boyfriend now, wasn't he? Wasn't that what partners were for?

It took a couple minutes, but Daphne settled down. Rin secured her hand in his and walked her back to her apartment. He sat at her kitchen table with Kurikara in front of him while she changed into her pajamas and brushed her teeth. For a minute he thought he heard her crying under the sound of the water coming out of the faucet in the bathroom, but he couldn't be sure. When she emerged from her bedroom into the kitchen, she'd washed her face and offered him a weak smile.

"I'll be all right," she said.

Rin wasn't so sure about that. She didn't _feel_ all right. Sure, she _looked_ perfectly put together at the moment, calm and collected, but he knew by now what a master Daphne was at hiding her emotions.

"I don't have anywhere to be," he replied with a shrug.

The statement seemed to catch her off-guard like she was surprised he'd seen through her. Then she looked at the floor. A second later she was sobbing.

He was on his feet in a flash, covering the short distance between them to gather her up in a hug again. Gripping the back of his shirt, she sobbed into his shoulder, her own shivering.

"I'll stay, Daph," Rin said softly. "If you want."

She nodded, crying still, but trying to get it under control. He let go of her for a moment to go to the sink and fill up a glass with water for her to drink. As she downed it, he puzzled at how this Daphne and the Daphne who had sparred against him with so much power that morning could be the same person.

Handing the glass back to him, Daphne put a hand on her forehead. "I hate this," she said bitterly.

"What?"

"Being afraid."

"Everyone's afraid of something, Daphne."

Her eyes flashed up at him, so he offered a small smile. "It's true."

She didn't have anything to say to that, so she looked away, mad still. Mad at herself. She started to massage her forehead, trying to get rid of a headache maybe.

"You need to get some sleep," he said. "Things might not seem so bad in the morning."

Daphne sighed. "You're an insufferable optimist," she said.

"And you're an incurable pessimist."

That got a laugh out of her, but it was short and clipped-off. More of an acknowledgement of the truth than a genuine laugh. Sighing again, she shook her head and moved into her room. Rin followed when she reached back for him and stood by the light switch while she turned down the covers on her bed.

"Will you stay with me? Until I fall asleep?"

He nodded and she climbed into bed and pulled the covers up to her stomach. Rin turned off the light and came to sit next to her on the other side, lying back when Daphne curled up and closed her eyes. He was staring at the ceiling when she spoke.

"Rin?"

"Hm?"

"What are _you_ afraid of?"

He took in a breath, let it out through his nose. Fair question. Quiet for a second, he formulated an answer. "Hurting the people I care about," he replied.

Fears were hard to put into words, though, weren't they? There was so much more to it than that. He was afraid of losing people he loved, whether to distance or time or death, afraid of them getting hurt because of a mistake that he made or something he said or some other outside force that he couldn't control. Living as a half-demon he had to be on his guard all the time, think through all the different ways he had to protect himself and everyone around him _from_ him. He realized as he lay there that Daphne was the first and only person he had never worried about harming. The thought had never even crossed his mind.

When he looked at her, she was already looking at him, her eyes bright in the light that crept into the room even though the blinds were shut. His heart started to beat a little faster as he finally processed exactly where he was and exactly what it was he was doing. She snuggled closer, touched a gentle kiss to his lips, then rested her head down on his shoulder and shut her eyes.

A few minutes later, she was sleeping.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Hello! Just to keep you all informed, updates will probably be coming to this story a little less frequently than they have in the past. You can expect them weekly at least, hopefully more often. Thank you so, so much for reading! Much love._

 _~Phab_


	14. Part 14

Rin hardly slept that night worrying about Daphne and also stressing over the fact that he was lying on her bed, and of course when he showed up the next morning to meet Yukio and a couple other exorcists at the site of the demon attack looking a little red in the eyes, Shura took it completely the wrong way.

"Ooh, _damn_ , son." She swung an arm out and hooked him around the neck. "Look at you wearing the same clothes and everything. How was it?"

"Nothing happened, Shura," Rin replied, rolling his eyes.

Her grip tightened when he tried to wriggle free. "Shit, that's too bad. Are you disappointed?"

Rin was about to answer when it suddenly struck him that he hadn't told her where he'd been. "Wait, how did you even know about Daphne?"

"Please, dumbass. You'd have to be a blind man living on the moon not to see the vibes the two of you were putting out." She let go of him and made a little motion with her hands to go along with the statement. "And Yukio told me."

Rin glared at his brother, who noticed even though he was standing a couple yards away.

"What? She was going to find out eventually. Why are you being so weird about it?"

"I don't know," Rin replied, a little exasperated. "I don't know what Daphne's expectations are."

"Worried she's ashamed of you?" Shura asked, folding her arms and pouting her lips.

"No."

"That she's out of your league?"

" _No._ "

"Not gonna like it when you do finally get it on?"

"All right, that's it!"

Rin pounced at Shura, but she was ready for him and stepped to the side, reaching out a hand to snap up his arm and pull him toward her. What with the fact that there was now empty space where he'd been planning to land and Shura had a pretty good grip on him, Rin lost his balance and gave her the perfect opportunity to get him into a headlock.

Yukio caught the tail end of the event as Rin shouted at Shura and pushed on her leg to get her to let go. "Hey!" he hollered at them. "Can we get to work please?"

Shoving Shura off and grumbling to himself, Rin rolled up his sleeves and stomped over to where Yukio was standing. Next to his feet on the asphalt were scorch marks, a bunch of them, dark black stripes about fifteen feet long and getting wider as they traveled down.

"Did the demons do this?"

Yukio nodded. "And this one in particular was also responsible for my hair."

The other exorcists there were standing around identical marks scattered around the area. Rin bent down and put his fingers on the blackened part of the asphalt to see if he could sense anything. Nothing much, just a resonant heat.

"Anything?"

"Not really, n—"

The scorch mark flared. Yelping, Rin jumped back, pulling his hand close to his body to get away from the fire. The sound and sudden motion made, Yukio jump. His hand went to his gun.

"What?"

"You don't see that?"

"See what?"

Rin gestured at the small bonfire that was burning literally right in front of him. "The flames."

"No... Are the other marks burning?"

Rin turned around to take a look and, sure enough, they were. Exorcists were standing in some of them, apparently unharmed.

"Huh."

He put his hand out, into the fire. It was hot, but like a shower. Kind of pleasant, actually.

"It's some kind of phantom flame," he said, looking over at Yukio and then promptly snorting a short laugh.

"What?"

"It's on your head, too."

Instinctively, Yukio reached up a hand to his hair and stuck it right into the flames. He swished it around a bit, but shrugged. "I don't feel it."

All around them the fires flickered and died, leaving a strange sort of tickling feeling on Rin's eyes. Something tugged at the back of his mind. The feeling was so distinct that he actually turned around to see who was there, but it was gone before he'd even moved halfway. Rin blinked. Weird.

"Let me see if I can activate it again or something," he said, and bent over to inspect the mark one more time.

Rin wasn't particularly familiar with very many demons in spite of being a half-demon himself, and what he did know about Iblis and his kin was through books. It probably would have been more beneficial for Mephisto to have come out and taken a look himself, seeing as he was way more familiar with all things demon than Rin was, but it wouldn't be an assignment from Mephisto if it wasn't something he probably could have done more efficiently on his own. He was too busy collecting rare Edo-era antiques to bother with anything actually important.

Nothing happened with the scorch marks. They weren't even hot anymore.

"Hey, Rin?"

Glancing up, Rin looked over at Yukio. "Huh?"

"The way Daphne reacted last night. Do you think it's possible she's encountered these demons?"

"We could always pull her records," Shura suggested, shrugging as she headed over to join the conversation. "Every run-in the Knights of the True Cross have with demons is pretty well-documented."

Yukio shook his head. "Daphne was Special Ops. Any mission she might have engaged in would be top secret and completely confidential."

Shura clicked her tongue. "True. Damn."

"I think there's probably a pretty good chance," Rin replied. Brushing his fingers across the scorch mark one final time, he stood up. "She's been pretty okay up until yesterday, so something must have set her off."

Shura pointed. "Something like that?"

A short way down at the end of the block was a demon. Three heads. Glowing mouth.

"Shit."

The other exorcists had noticed it too, hollering at one another and hurrying to regroup around Yukio. Rin swung Kurikara down off his back and Shura drew Fang from her chest.

"They manifest in pairs," Yukio called. "Don't get in front of it. The range of its fire breath is long, but narrow. Don't attack it. Hold."

The demon was seriously weird. It was a snake head sandwich with goat head bread, but the snake was the only head that looked alive. The goats' eyes were sealed shut and so were their mouths. The snake's was permanently open, wide and grinning like a jack o' lantern with row after row of sharp, sharp teeth. Its skin shifted, ashy one moment, like a tree trunk the next, then sand, then…asphalt.

"How do we kill it, Yukio?" Shura asked, flexing her hands around the grip of her blade.

"Cut off the two non-sentient heads before piercing it through the heart, which is on the right not the left side of the chest." He looked back over his shoulder. "Arias, we don't know what its Fatal Verse is, so pick a book of scripture and start reciting."

A mumbled chorus started up. The demon was moving toward them with measured, careful steps. Each time its foot met the ground, a shock seemed to go through it, rippling its skin and making the goat heads jiggle.

"Damn that thing is gross." Shura stuck her tongue out.

"Rin, take the right head. Shura, take the left. Rex, summon a few more of your demons to draw its fire."

Rin let the red cloth slip from Kurikara's scabbard, then drew the blade. Behind him, one of the newer Arias fumbled over a line in the verse he was reciting when the blue flames sprang to life. Always with the newbies…

"On my cue in three, two, one."

Four of Rex's familiars bolted straight for the demon. A second later, Rin and Shura broke from the group, running in opposite directions to circle back around to either side of the demon from behind. This sound started spilling into the air—like wind mixed with machine gun fire. The demon had stopped moving and was drawing in a breath, its jaw unhinging and the air in front of it rippling with the heat waves that poured out.

Rin turned, headed right for the demon. Shura was coming up quick on the left. The noise stopped, the demon shut its mouth, then— _boom_ —an enormous spray of thick, red flame went shooting out. Rex's familiars barely managed to dodge, one of them getting singed a little around the tail. Rin and Shura had both hesitated when the explosion happened, but had to shake off the misstep and keep running. Two…one, Rin was right on top of it and he leapt up, swinging Kurikara back, then down, slicing through the jelly goat neck and lopping it clean off.

It slid to the ground and landed with a splat, then sizzled on the pavement. The demon started shrieking. It whirled on Rin, but a shot rang out, then another, and another, and a couple of holes from Yukio's gun showed through the right side of its chest. It stumbled, faltered, then fell to the ground in a shower of ashes, letting out one final flash of heat that left a scorch mark identical to all the others and started one of the Arias' pant legs on fire.

Shura poked at the goat head she'd cut off with the end of the blade. "Ick."

"Where's the other one?"

"Underground, probably. They burrow." Yukio approached, tucking his gun away into its clip. "Shura, will you stick around and wait for it to surface?"

"Sure thing, four-eyed chicken."

"Rin, you and I should talk to Lord Pheles right away."

Rin nodded, but they didn't even have time to get a hold of Mephisto before the guy himself was summoning them to his office.

"Had an encounter with some more of our fiery little mystery demons, hm?" he said from behind his desk almost as soon as they'd walked through the door. An enormous grin spread out across his mouth and he leaned back in his seat, eager to listen. "Tell me about them."

Yukio glanced at Rin and the two of them exchanged well-who's-gonna-be-the-one-to-start-this-shit-show expressions before Yukio took in a breath and looked back at Mephisto and bit the bullet.

"They're kin of Iblis. Manifest in pairs. We weren't able to discover a Fatal Verse, if they have one. Middle to upper rank, maybe."

"What do they look like?"

Grabbing a piece of paper, Rin drew a really shitty picture and slid it across the desk to Mephisto who sat up to get a better look.

"What is that? A dinosaur?"

"No, it's the demon. That's what it looks like."

"Oh? What's this part here?"

"Those are its feet—you know what, never mind."

Mephisto grinned and Yukio stepped in to give a description of the demon, pretty much the same one he'd given to Daphne last night. Mephisto listened, his fingers rested together into a point and placed over his mouth. His gaze was directed at his desk. When Yukio finished, he didn't look up. Yukio glanced at Rin, then continued.

"Sir, we have reason to believe that Daphne Lux may have encountered these demons in the past."

Much to Rin's surprise, Mephisto just laughed.

"Well _of course_ she has," he said, shaking his head and looking up finally and smiling at them like they were a pair of idiots. "Why do you think I wanted her teaching on the cram school staff in the first place?"

Rin's mouth fell open. _That's_ why he wanted Daphne? He'd known about these demons the _entire time?_ "Well that would have been nice to know!"

Mephisto ignored him. "Daphne Lux is the only exorcist to have encountered these demons in their final form and lived," he said. His eyes flicked gravely from Rin to Yukio. "Until yesterday, nobody has known what they looked like. But now…" He grabbed Rin's picture and held it up by his face. "We have this beautiful work of art to help us out!"

He cracked himself right up, howling with laughter. He laughed so hard big, ridiculous tears tumbled over his cheeks. Rin's ears burned red.

"Shut up, Mephisto."

His chuckles quieted, but continued. "In all seriousness—" He wiped a few of the tears from his eyes. "—these things are going to have our exorcists in quite the pickle."

"But we exorcised it just fine. Shura and Yukio and me."

"The being that you saw this morning was far from fully-fledged," Mephisto replied.

"Meaning?"

"It was weak, infantile. A mere iota of the true power it is capable of possessing. Very little data has been shared on the creature, but what _has_ come through is very…" He thought for a moment, picking out exactly the right word. "…perturbing."

Yukio frowned. "So there _are_ records on the demons?"

Mephisto waved his hand through the air. "I've requested the files, but they've apparently been closed. Paladin clearance only. Even then, the Americans are not particularly cooperative."

Rin rolled his eyes. "What else is new?"

"The only person who can give us the information and the training we need is Daphne Lux," Mephisto continued.

Those words made Rin's stomach turn over. Why god, why, _why_ did it have to be Daphne? Why couldn't it have been some perfectly stable old man living in the middle of the suburbs somewhere with his perfectly adjusted wife and family? No, no, of course the only person who had the low-down was an ex-Army captain with hallucinatory panic attacks and a tendency toward absolute secrecy. One whom he was dating on top of all that.

Yukio and Mephisto were looking at him.

"What?"

"Perhaps you could be our…representative?" Mephisto said, raising his eyebrows.

"No way."

"Lord Pheles is right, Rin." Yukio shook his head. "We need Daphne's help."

"And how are we supposed to get it?" Rin threw his hands out. "I don't know if you've noticed, Yukio, but she doesn't exactly practice exorcism anymore."

"Talk to her about it."

"I _can't._ "

"Why not? She's _your_ girlfriend."

Rin didn't know why not, he just knew that it was dangerous territory. Daphne hardly ever talked about her past. He'd gotten little snippets of it here and there and had been able to piece things together—born and raised in Salem, no dad, abusive mother, she'd trained with a priest named Father Michael in order to become an exorcist. But the army never once came up. The only reason Rin even knew about it was because every exorcist in the school knew about it. Thanks to Mephisto.

"I just can't, that's why."

Mephisto rolled his eyes. "Surely you've noticed the pull."

"The _what?_ "

"The pull. The sucking of energy out of Assiah into Gehenna in order to fuel the resurgence of a very powerful demon. You haven't felt that?"

Now that Mephisto mentioned it, Rin had been noticing some kind of tingle at the back of his mind. Almost like his brain was itchy. And there was that tug at the attack site. Was that was that was?

"We _need_ Daphne Lux," Mephisto said, pressing his fingertips together into a point and leaning forward in his chair. "I cannot stress this enough."

"Well, you talk to her then," Rin replied, folding his arms. "I'm not gonna do it."

"Honestly, it's a wonder you got her to go out with you in the first place."

"Excuse me?"

"You're just such a bumbling bumpus fool I'm surprised that a woman as beautiful and capable as that would even give you the time of day."

"Oh, what would you know, you big dope? You think you're some kind of ladies' man?"

Mephisto took offense at that. "As a matter of fact, I do."

"Yeah a real Casanova, you are."

"Quit it, would you?" Yukio snapped. "Nothing is going to be solved by this pointless bickering."

Rin glared and Mephisto and Mephisto glared at Rin, but both of them went quiet. A second later, Mephisto's usual playful grin turned up either corner of his mouth.

"I think sometimes you forget your place, darling brother."

"Well I certainly haven't forgotten what an asshole _you_ are."

Mephisto's eyes narrowed, but Yukio stepped in.

"How soon until this demon manifests?"

Mephisto sat back. "I cannot tell. But it _is_ on its way. These creatures that you've encountered are only the beginning."

Rin eyed him. "You know something."

Perking up a little, Mephisto looked surprised. "How very astute of you, Mr. Okumura. As always, yes. I _do_ know something."

And that was all he said. Yukio edged forward.

"Lord Pheles, please. We need to know what we're dealing with."

"Bring me Daphne Lux, and then we'll see."

That was an order, sure as hellfire. Mephisto smiled, then flicked his wrist to dismiss them. Defeated and deflated and wondering how in the world he was supposed to bring any of this up to Daphne, Rin left the office swallowing a nervous lump that had formed in his throat. It wasn't going to be pretty.


	15. Part 15

Daphne had gone to work that morning in a useless bid to try and maintain some stability. It was a mistake. She kept seeing things at the back of the classroom. People and demons. Demons she recognized, people she knew. She barely got through a discussion of Milton and _Paradise Lost_ before the rapid-fire beating of her heart had her dizzy, but the bell rang and she breathlessly assigned some reading and then swept out of her classroom right behind her students, only just remembering to lock the door.

Before she really realized where she was headed, she'd fished her keys out of her bag, found the one that would take her to the Supplies Store, and had put it in a lock and stepped onto the bridge. The sound of the wind whipping across was welcome white noise to her ears. Daphne started to walk.

She didn't have any particular relationship with Shiemi outside of her monthly bulk purchase of holy water, but she liked her all the same. It was probably impossible not to like Shiemi, if you didn't mind sweetness and innocence in droves. Daphne had seen her in passing so many times at Rin and Yukio's house, but she was always with Yukio then and the two of them were typically on their way out or in another room or talking in hushed tones in the corner. By the time she got to the door, Daphne was wondering what on earth she thought she was going to accomplish here.

The shop bells jingled overhead. Shiemi looked up from the counter.

"Miss Lux!"

"Hello, Miss Moriyama."

Shiemi came around the front, folding her hands into her sleeves. "Our shipment of holy water hasn't come in yet."

Daphne knew this, of course. The shipment arrived on the thirteenth and the twenty-fifth of every month. Shiemi was dutiful about her message alerts.

"I'm not here for the holy water, Miss Moriyama."

"Oh!"

Blinking, Shiemi waited for an explanation, but Daphne didn't have one. She'd followed her instincts, or maybe her repressed desires, up here. She was so confused. Scared. Ever since she and Rin had said goodbye that morning and he'd gone to investigate the demon attack and she'd gotten ready for work and headed over to the school, she'd been jittery. What would Rin find when he got there? How much had he already guessed? How many more times would she have to relive all that death before she lost every last one of her marbles?

"Miss Lux?"

Daphne looked up, and Shiemi was smiling at her. She probably knew pretty well what it was like to get lost in one's thoughts.

"It's about lunch time," she continued. "I have some tea brewing. Would you like to join me in the garden?"

Drawing a breath, Daphne nodded. Maybe that's why she'd come here. To take in a little bit of that Shiemi zen.

"I would love to, Miss Moriyama."

A pretty pink hue flushed over Shiemi's cheeks and she clapped her hands together. "Wonderful! It's just this way."

She pointed toward a doorway hung with a set of beads that led into the backstock of the shop, then moved toward it, towing Daphne along. Shiemi went down a short hallway to an outside door which she opened and then held for Daphne. It exited onto a covered porch. Beyond that were a couple of steps, then the vast green paradise that was Shiemi's garden.

Daphne breathed deep. The air smelled like honey and mint and buzzed gently with unseen bees. Shiemi pulled out a wicker chair next to an outside table already laid with a terra cotta teapot and several cups.

"Have a seat," she said and smiled enormously.

Thanking her, Daphne obeyed. She looked out over the garden while Shiemi checked and then served the tea, accepted a cup when it was handed to her. It was green tea, a fresh and fragrant blend that cleared a little bit of the fog from Daphne's head as she breathed it in. She took a sip, relishing the warmth and the flavor over her tongue and down her throat. Daphne relaxed a little in her seat.

"Thank you, Miss Moriyama."

"Please," Shiemi said, sitting up and reaching for Daphne's hand, but rethinking the gesture and stopping herself midway. "Call me Shiemi. I'd like for us to be friends, even if I don't know you all that well yet."

Daphne smiled. "I'd like that, too."

Shiemi blushed, looking absolutely thrilled. They were quiet after that, sipping the tea and gazing out over the garden in companionable silence. It was just the right temperature in the shade, perfect for tea. Every slight breeze that blew by carried a new scent on it of some flower or plant or soil blend. Out in the garden, Daphne could see movement, small green creatures that ducked and wove through all the plants, probably Shiemi's familiars. They were like fairies and sitting here was almost like being in another world. Then her phone rang and the illusion was shattered when she looked at the caller ID and Rin's name was the one that came up.

She'd forgotten for a second that she was dating a demon.

"Hello?" she picked up.

"Hey. Where are you? I went to your class but it was locked…"

"I'm up at Shiemi's. In the garden."

"Oh. Okay." He sounded surprised, but not very. "Did you want to get lunch or are you eating with her?"

"We're just having tea right now…"

"Is that Rin?" Shiemi asked.

Daphne looked up at her and nodded.

"He's welcome to come up," she said. "I have some sandwich ingredients that need to be eaten soon."

"She says you can come up for sandwiches."

"Sweet. See you in a few."

Daphne hung up and put her phone back in her pocket. Shiemi smiled.

"Is he coming?" she asked.

Daphne nodded. It was several minutes before anything happened, Daphne and Shiemi both quiet and wondering what was taking Rin so long. Eventually Shiemi stood up, saying, "I'll go get started and we can eat as soon as he gets here," and heading into the house. On her way in, she ran into Rin coming out and the two of them both let out little shouts of surprise, then started laughing. Daphne didn't turn around to look.

"There you are! I was just about to start the sandwiches. Help yourself to some tea, I'll be back in a jiffy."

"Thanks."

The door closed. Rin lingered for a moment, then headed over. Daphne listened to his footfalls across the porch until he was standing next to her chair and she had to look up at him.

"Hi."

"Hi."

He looked like he wanted to touch her or kiss or something, but he didn't. He looked like he didn't know _what_ to do. They _had_ only been a couple for something like twenty-four hours, so she could hardly blame him for being hesitant, but all the same it made Daphne uneasy. She was already on edge as it was, she didn't need Rin to be insecure on top of that.

"Can we talk?"

Damn it all to hell. That was the absolute _last_ thing she wanted to hear right then. She'd scared him away with her—her…herself. Goddamn it, herself. This was who she was, she couldn't change it. And it was too much for Rin. She couldn't say she was surprised. Swallowing, Daphne nodded.

"Sure," she said, her throat tight. She fought the tears that stung the backs of her eyes.

Rin made an empty gesture at the garden, so Daphne rose and started walking and he followed her down the steps, tucking his hands into his pockets. She let him lead the way, glancing out of the corner of her eye just long enough to notice his nervous energy. He looked like he was reciting something in his head. Probably a "this was a mistake it's not you it's me" speech. Daphne prepared herself for the worst of it.

They came to a low brick wall that circled around a vast green pond littered with lily pads and Rin sat down so Daphne did the same. A couple of koi swam over, looking for food.

"Listen, Daph…"

She squeezed her eyes shut. Whatever he was about to say, whether it had to do with her or their relationship or her panic attacks or demons or anything, she didn't want to hear it.

"Mephisto wants to talk to you."

Her eyes popped open. Well, that had to be about the _last_ thing she had expected. Rin didn't want to break up with her, he was just playing the messenger boy for the principal?

"Why?"

Rin squirmed. "He wants your help."

"With what?"

He didn't know how to answer that, so he didn't. "He just wants to meet with you. I don't know. In his office. Maybe, like, today?"

Daphne snorted. "He thinks just because he's some fancy demon king, he can boss me around?"

"Wait, you know?"

"Know what—wait. _You_ know?"

"I mean, _yeah._ I'm kind of the _son of Satan_ , Daphne."

She hadn't considered that. Did that make Rin and Mephisto half-brothers? How did—no, no, no. _Stop_ it. Focus.

"I don't want to talk to him, Rin," she said, firmly. Whatever Mephisto had going on, Daphne was certain it would have to do with exorcism. And she didn't want to be an exorcist anymore.

"I know, I know, I just… He's been breathing down all our necks since you first started working here and even _more_ down mine since we became friends and now that we're together he wants me to be his 'representative' or something, I don't know, and these demon attacks have kind of upped the ante on getting you to teach blade bonding in the cram school."

A hot, angry fire sprang to life on Daphne's face. " _What?_ " she growled.

Rin practically clapped his hand over his mouth. So the beans had finally been spilled. Mephisto wanted her to teach in the cram school? Teach _blade bonding?_ She'd figured he was a little off his rocker, but this counted him as certifiably insane. How did Rin even know what blade bonding was? Or that it was _called_ that for that matter?

She glared at him and he leaned away.

"How do you know about blade bonding?" she asked.

Rin sputtered for a moment, grasping at little half-words and syllables.

" _How do you know about blade bonding, Rin?!_ "

"Shura had a bunch of tapes from the military! She let Yukio and I watch them right after you first started working here."

" _That long?_ "

He grimaced. "I'm sorry, Daph."

"You've lied to me for _that long?_ "

Daphne started laughing. She started laughing because she was too shocked and hurt and angry to express it any other way. Rin just stared at her, mortally terrified and rightly so. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't think you'd take it very well." Translation: case in point.

"Oh? And why is that? Because you figured I'd react like this? Like some kind of psycho?" She got up from the wall and turned on him. " _Hm?_ "

"That's not—"

She didn't let him finish. "Do you know _why_ I'm like this, Rin? Do you _want_ to know why? It's because of blade bonding. It's because of everything that happened to me after I discovered that goddamn technique."

"I'm just relaying the message, Daphne. Mephisto wants to talk to you about blade bonding and the demons and all of it."

"I don't give a _shit_ about what Mephisto wants."

"Daphne."

" _What?_ "

"Stop being so unreasonable."

"Unreasonable? _Unreasonable?_ " Her mouth fell open and a dark laugh rumbled out. She crossed her hands behind her back. "What's unreasonable is asking a person to do something you know _nothing_ about." With a powerful wrench, she drew Castor and Pollux from her shoulders and brought them swiftly down in front of her. Rin jolted back, away from the ends of the blades.

"Look at this, Rin! _Look at it!_ " She flung Castor, tensed her empty hand and sucked the sword back into it. "Is this what you want? _You want this?_ "

"Daphne! Chill out!"

She hurled both blades, let them travel a good distance before recalling them. The grips slapped into her palms with a thwack. She held them up, but her hands were open, the swords essentially magnetized to her skin.

"You want me to teach exwires— _children—_ how to do _this?_ "

Reversing Pollux, she closed her hand around the grip and moved to stab herself through the neck though the blade was so long there wasn't much power behind it and Rin got up shouting for her to stop but it was too late and the end of the sword connected with her throat and she pushed it straight through her body, gasping. God _damn_ that hurt. She caught Pollux as the end of the sword emerged behind her head and stumbled a little, propping herself up on her blades. A glance up at Rin and he was staring at her, his eyes wide and terrified.

Her ribs heaved with every deep, unsteady breath she took in and she started laughing because she was too out there to do anything else anymore. He had no idea what this was like. How painful it was to be connected to not one, but _three_ demon blades the way she was. How deeply that linked her to Gehenna. How much stronger it made her demon sight. Made her nightmares. Her hallucinations. How—

Rin was a half-demon.

The calm voice that spoke the thought in her mind was far more piercing than any kind of shout or scream. Rin was a half-demon. He was a _demon_. He was linked to Gehenna. He could see and sense and feel things that nobody else could. He knew what it was like, at least in some form, to experience what she did. The way he was looking at her then…he was frightened. Frightened for _her._ Suddenly she was ashamed of herself. Why did she always push people away like this? She lowered her face to the ground.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

A beat, then a pair of hands was on her shoulders. Surprised, Daphne looked up and Rin was right in front of her, his eyebrows drawn together. He shook his head.

"Don't be sorry. _I'm_ sorry. I…" He took a breath in. Daphne could see that he was shaking. "I thought I was going to lose you for a second."

Her heart beat one powerful thump and the force of it made her head swim. She'd forgotten what it felt like to have someone who cared about her, someone who worried. Someone she could hurt. Rin put his hands around the back of her head and made her look him in the eye.

"Don't do that to me again, okay?"

She nodded. She took in a breath and she nodded again. How could she say no? She had him to think about now. No more self-destruct button.

Trembling a little, Daphne straightened and sheathed Castor and Pollux into her shoulders and sat down on the wall. Her arms folded tight against her chest and she looked at her knees, pressed them together.

"This is why I don't want anything to do with whatever Mephisto has up his sleeve," she said after a moment.

Rin pursed his lips, helpless. "I get it, Daph. But He'll find his way to you eventually. He always does. Let's just get it over with. Please?"

"I'll talk with him." She stood up and started off down the walk, ready to pick a bone or five hundred. "I'll give him a piece of my mind…"


	16. Part 16

At her usual, unbelievable-lightning speed, Daphne stormed her way toward Mephisto's office and Rin struggled to keep up. She'd scared the shit out of him and now she was hell bent on turning her wrath on some more unsuspecting bystanders— _well,_ Mephisto wasn't exactly a bystander. He was kind of the root of the problem. Talking with Daphne hadn't gone as bad as Rin had expected, it had gone _worse._ Sure, he'd been successful in getting her upstairs to talk with Mephisto, but she'd gone absolutely AWOL in the process. Rin was out of breath for more reasons than one when Daphne finally reached the doors to Mephisto's office and threw them open without any ado, letting the heavy wood slam against the wall.

"Where is that little freak?!"

Mephisto was over by one of the windows and he turned around as they came in.

"Ah, Miss Lux." He glanced from her to Rin and smiled. "See what you can accomplish when you put your mind to it, Rin?"

Rin wanted to tell him to go shove his head up his ass, but was still catching his breath. Mephisto strolled over to his desk and Daphne walked right up to him as he gestured at the pair of high-backed chairs in front of it.

"Won't you sit down, Miss Lux?"

"I'm not in the habit of accepting hospitality from demons," Daphne hissed.

A wry smile curled up either end of Mephisto's mouth and he made a little gesture between Daphne and Rin.

"What do you call this, then?"

Daphne ignored him. "Let's get this over with. No more games."

"Ah, but games are where I excel, Miss Lux. You see, I've never been able to find a player skilled enough to out-maneuver me."

"I'll maneuver you straight back into Gehenna if you don't start talking, demon."

Daphne spat those words out with so much venom, Mephisto actually looked impressed.

"All right, Miss Lux." He sat down, propped his elbows up on the armrests of his chair, then took his sweet time getting himself all settled the way he wanted before he spoke. "The reason I hired you is because I want you to teach in the cram school."

"I know that already. Next?"

"I want you to teach dual wielding."

"And blade bonding, too, while I'm at it, right? What else?"

"Morpheus is rising."

Daphne froze. Like, _literally_ froze. For a second it didn't even look like she was breathing, but she did come out of it, her eyes un-glazing. She'd been off somewhere in one of her memories, reliving it. Rin reached over and put his hand on her elbow. She glanced at him, the expression on her face confirming his guess well enough.

"I think you understand what that means," Mephisto continued.

Daphne nodded. Rin watched her battle to get control over her breathing for a second. He wished somebody would clue him in and tell him what the hell was going on here. All he could gather was that Morpheus was some seriously messed up shit. And probably kin of Iblis. At least he knew that, too.

"The evidence is strong. The Misters Okumura encountered a breed of demon new to Japan. Semicapers. You know them, too, I think."

A shaky breath rattled out of Daphne's mouth. "I do."

Quiet, Mephisto just folded his arms, smiling that irritatingly mysterious smile.

"What form were they?" Daphne asked.

"Thankfully the younger brother is much better at describing things than the elder is at drawing them." Mephisto smiled when Rin glared at him. "Based on this and my research of very limited resources, I would estimate them to be somewhere between their first and second forms. No higher than third."

"That's the best you can do?"

"I have never encountered a semicaper personally, Miss Lux. You see, they're quite rare. They only manifest when Morpheus wills it."

"Yeah…" Daphne replied. "I know…"

She was drifting again, getting sucked into her memories.

"We need you, Miss Lux."

Snapping back, Daphne snorted. "No. _You_ 'want' me. This has nothing to do with knowledge or the needs and safety of other exorcists. You want to put me up on your trophy shelf and say, 'Hey, look at this. Look what I caught. It's the freak who found a way to make her demon swords stick to her body! Isn't it great to have such a weapon at my beck and call?'"

Mephisto made a face like Daphne wasn't exactly wrong.

"I refuse to be another one of your trophies."

Rin couldn't help but feel like that might have been a jab at him. Particularly since Daphne's eyes flicked almost imperceptibly in his direction. Mephisto sat back in his seat.

"Why don't we start small, then, hm? Teach Rin."

Daphne only had to glance at Rin for a second before she shot that idea right out of the air. "Absolutely not."

"Oh, Miss Lux, don't be so adamant. We—"

"Can the 'we'. There is no 'we'. There's only 'Mephisto', and I don't take orders from you. Not as an exorcist." She stabbed an angry finger down onto his desk.

"Daph."

Rin stepped forward, tried to put his hand on her back, but she wriggled away from him.

"Don't."

"You can teach me. I want to learn." Did he though? Honestly, he wasn't so sure.

"No offense, Rin, but you can't even stomach the idea of the _storage_ tattoos. Teach you blade bonding? No chance in hell."

"Pardon the pun."

Mephisto chuckled and Rin and Daphne just glared at him. After a second, Rin turned to look at her.

"Give me a chance, Daph."

"You have no idea how blade bonding works, how dangerous it is," she replied.

An image of Daphne shoving her sword through her throat less than an hour ago ran through Rin's mind and made him shiver all over again. He'd seen that and he _still_ had no idea how it worked or what its deal was? Maybe he _didn't_ want to learn.

"Miss Lux." Mephisto's face turned dark, his eyes grave, all his ordinary playfulness absent completely. "This creature is coming whether you like it or not. Now, will you stand with us or sit by and allow more destruction?"

Daphne's eyes narrowed, glittering. She held Mephisto's gaze and stared him down, and he stared back, unflinching. They kept at it for what felt like a million years, neither backing down. It was a total standoff. In the end, Daphne was the one to fold.

"I'll think about it," she said.

Mephisto sat back, smiling. "Good."

* * *

She'd _think_ about it? What in the actual sam hell was wrong with her? _Think about it?_ She didn't have to think about it, she knew what her answer was. No. _Hell_ no. _Never in a million years._ Her throat started to close up and her palms got sweaty. Before she knew it, Daphne was pacing up and down the hallway, turning in circles instead of straight lines. She couldn't face Morpheus again. She couldn't. She couldn't, not after what happened last time. Faisal. Adri. Rhoda. Hunter. Dead. Dead because of her.

"Daph."

A hand was on her back, and Daphne whirled around, a hand behind her neck and summoning Helen of Troy without a second thought. Rin took a step away and put his hands up in a defensive position. Daphne stopped drawing the blade. She started to shake.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I can't. I can't do this."

He came forward, put his hands on her shoulders. "Sure you can. I know you can."

"Don't talk to me like that, Rin. I'm not two years old."

He conceded with a shrug. "It's like I said… Maybe you don't have to run away. Maybe the best way to deal with your fears is to face them head on."

Leave it to Rin to say something idiotic like that. Still, his misplaced, and perhaps unjustified, optimism was one of the things she liked about him. He could say dumb, sappy, inspiring shit and get away with making it sound believable. Then again, he really _did_ believe it. He really thought she could do this.

"Miss Lux?"

Mephisto appeared at the end of the hall and Daphne tensed. Goddamn bossy demon king sticking his nose and umbrella into all kinds of places it didn't belong. Daphne didn't know how he'd managed to unearth the fact that she'd encountered Morpheus or how he knew so much about her, but she suspected his methods were seven levels of shady. Mephisto strolled casually forward.

"I think I may be able to show you something that might convince you of my point of view. I assure you I am a credible source."

Mephisto could have spent a thousand years trying to find something to make him out to be a credible source and would have come up empty. Daphne narrowed her eyes at him.

"What?" she spat.

The demon just smiled. "Follow me."


	17. Part 17

Mephisto led Rin and Daphne down to one of the sparring rings, one of the big fancy ones with an observation deck—an observation deck that was full of about every other exorcist, exwire, and page on the entire campus. All of them were chattering excitedly, wondering probably what was going on. _This_ was how Mephisto planned to earn Daphne's trust? Rin could already see it backfiring a thousand different ways.

"What the hell are we doing here?" Daphne asked. She hesitated in the archway that led out into the ring, ducking just far enough back that maybe half the audience couldn't see her. Rin stayed where he was, in full view, Mephisto out in front of him.

"I'd like you to spar against Rin," Mephisto answered.

Wait, what?

Just as Mephisto turned around to give them one of his signature smiles, Daphne lunged forward and grabbed hold of his collar with an angry fist and yanked him down to snarl into his face.

"You have no idea what I'm capable of," she hissed.

Mephisto did not pull away. Instead he looked right into Daphne's eyes, his own sparkling. "Then by all means, Miss Lux. _Show me_."

Oh, this was bad, this was very, very bad. Rin glanced up into the crowd gathered in the observation deck and caught sight of Yukio in one of the front rows. Shiemi was next to him. Yukio raised his eyebrows. Rin threw up his shoulders in a massive shrug. Hell if he knew.

Growling, Daphne let go of Mephisto's collar and he started straightening it out.

"What is this supposed to accomplish?" Daphne asked. She ran her eyes in a fierce glare over everyone in the deck.

Mephisto just tapped his forehead with his index finger. "You'll see," he said and winked. A poof and he was suddenly up with everyone else, sitting floating in his weird-ass chair throne thing.

"Esteemed exorcists of True Cross Academy," he said, his voice amplified somehow like it was coming out of a megaphone, "I'd like to welcome you to this afternoon's demonstration. Here today we have Miss Daphne Olivia Lux, former Army captain and member of the United States Branch of the Knights of the True Cross, and everyone's favorite blue-flamed Senior Exorcist First-Class, Rin Okumura."

Rin rolled his eyes. He caught sight of some of his students sitting up in the deck giggling. Those little shits. They'd just earned themselves a couple extra pages of homework…

Crossing his legs, Mephisto sat back. "Whenever you're ready."

Rin looked at Daphne. Daphne looked at Rin. They'd sparred before, so they both knew there was no point in beating around the bush when it came to Kurikara. Swinging it down and shedding the red cloth, Rin drew his blade and brought it up to bear. In the observation deck, whisper whisper whisper. None of his students had ever seen him in demon form, and he would have liked to keep it like that, but whatever. At least Mephisto was finally getting his way so he could shut up about Daphne already.

The whispers only got more intense when Daphne drew Castor and Pollux. Exorcist knights were a dime a dozen, but throw on the fact that Daphne had _two_ blades, and not just any crummy old swords, but _demon_ blades, _both_ of them and you had a very rare sight. Helen of Troy excluded.

Rin had never felt like more of a spectacle in his entire life.

"So, um, how serious are you about this right now?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm pretty pissed off," Daphne replied. She swung one of her blades around and fell into an attack stance. "So, _very_."

Yeah, he could see that. A vicious little fire was burning in the back of her eyes. Rin swallowed. Nothing for it.

Daphne made the first move. Rin didn't know what he'd expected—well, yes he did, he'd expected her to come at him like she had the day before, but she didn't. Daphne stepped forward into a lunge, thrusting with Castor and almost immediately swinging Pollux around for a cut from above. Rin parried Castor, and ducked with a little yelp to get away from Pollux. Daphne was using a different technique. Something told him she hadn't fought with blade bonding yesterday. Something told him this was blade bonding _now_.

It was weird. He'd never fought against anything remotely like this. He could keep up with her, but all of his parries were weak because it took him just a fraction of a second too long to figure out where Daphne was headed. She didn't seem to need to hold onto her swords to use them. In fact, he _knew_ she didn't, further evidenced by the fact that she just straight up tried to punch him in the face with her actual hand, the grip of her blade rolled up onto its back.

Rin sensed that energy start to build again—the one he'd felt yesterday and ignored because he'd been so focused on beating Daphne. This time, he focused on _it_ instead, tried to feel out where it was coming from and— _BOOM!—_ the sparring ring exploded with a rainbow of light and blue flames.

Startled, Rin stumbled a little and lowered Kurikara. Daphne was—holy shit _—glowing?_ Was she _glowing?_ A white-gold aura was hovering around her so, yeah, glowing was the best word he was going to be able to come up with at the moment. She'd noticed it too. Everyone had. How could they _not?_ Rin and Daphne stood staring at each other, equally dumbfounded.

"The match isn't over yet," Mephisto trilled.

Rin looked back at Daphne to gauge her willingness to continue to spar, but she was already headed right for him, or at least _something_ was. It was a form of Daphne, a shadow, maybe. Like a faded, fuzzy outline and it was raising a blade to his throat, the actual Daphne a second or so behind. He lifted Kurikara to block, and the form changed directions, dipping one blade down and sending the other hurtling into the air past Rin. Daphne followed close behind.

What. The. _Hell?_

He readied himself to block again, and this time their swords actually collided. He saw the form raise its hand to recall the blade it had thrown. Whatever was going on that let him see what she was about to do, she must have been able to see him, too, because just as he whirled to dodge _that_ blade, Daphne stepped into the empty space he'd left to catch it and hurl it at him again, but of course he was ready because he already saw it happening, so she recalled it and threw the other one.

Then, out of freaking _nowhere_ , there was another rainbow explosion and Rin's flames reacted to it, lapping it up like fuel. Their power, and his control over them, amplified. He could sense every tendril of flame like he could his own fingertips, reach a little further into Gehenna and draw out a little more heat and a whole hell of a lot more precision. Daphne was glowing again. She and her form were headed his direction and Rin noticed the aura around her had surrounded her swords. He brought Kurikara up, the blades met, and an incredible, powerful burst of hot wind sang out on impact. It sent both Rin and Daphne flying backwards, their faces flushed and their hair swept back and sticking out all over.

Holy.

Shit.

Up on his seat, Mephisto just grinned. "I think we'll call it a draw."


	18. Part 18

Daphne was too shocked and shaky to really process what was going on as Rin sheathed Kurikara and ushered her out of the ring. Her eyes were locked with the ends of her blades as Castor and Pollux blazed with some crazy light that refracted rainbows when she turned them. Rin must have taken her down a hall somewhere because suddenly they were in a locker room and he was trying to get her attention.

"—ne! Hey! Daphne!"

When she looked up, Mephisto was there. She pushed right past Rin to get to him.

" _What_ just happened?"

"Just what I expected."

What in the hell kind of answer was that? She would have cut Mephisto's head off, but he saw the malice in her eyes and took a step back, already explaining.

"Your original encounter with Morpheus left a temptaint on you stronger, more durable, and… _stickier_ than anything I've seen before. On top of that, it's gone untreated for more than two years. These are its effects."

Daphne looked at her shaking hands, at the white-hot halo that blazed around them. No. _No._ She didn't want this. She didn't want to be an _exorcist_ must less some jacked-up, blade-bonding, Morpheus-temptaint-having _freak_. Sitting down on the floor, she dropped Castor and Pollux and tucked her knees up against her chest and cried.

"Miss Lux, this is no time for tears! This is _wonderfully_ exciting!"

No, no, no, no, no, why _her?_ Why _now?_ She never asked for this. Even as she sobbed, she felt the halo fade, flicker, and then turn off.

"Give her some space, Mephisto."

Daphne didn't know if he left or if it took a little more persuading from Rin because she wasn't exactly paying attention, but a moment later Rin sat right next to her and put his arm around her shoulders.

"Daph?"

She looked over at him.

"I don't know what happened in there…and I don't know all that much about what's going on, but…Mephisto is right. Morpheus-or-whatever is going to come no matter what and I think maybe…maybe we have a chance if you and I fight together."

Daphne had to concede that he might be right. She'd _never_ felt or seen anything like that before. Sniffing, she leaned against him and quieted her tears. She'd been able to anticipate his moves, and he hers, and somehow whatever weird juju Morpheus had tainted her with was compatible with Rin's flames and acted on them. Like a magnifying glass. Only now was Daphne beginning to understand the real position she was in. Blade bonding linked her soul with her swords, and because her swords were linked to Gehenna, so was she. The half-portion of Gehenna that ran through Rin's veins linked him to the demon world and by virtue of that, to Daphne as well. That _strength_. She'd been strong before, but not like that. Never like that. Could they really stand a chance?

"Mephisto thinks I know about Morpheus, but I don't really," she said. "Or at least, I'm not sure what's real and what's not."

The demon took its name from the Greek god of dreams. It had hallucinatory properties, memory distortion. Daphne's knowledge only went so far. She remembered hundreds of things that had happened at the end of her battle with Morpheus. Any one of them could have been true. Or perhaps individual pieces were true. Or perhaps none of it was.

"I remember everything about its familiars fine." She wiped her eyes and nose. "They were the reason we were in Afghanistan in the first place. More and more of them just kept cropping up, so my team was dispatched to put them to rest, but the situation was worse than anyone had anticipated. We ended up out in the desert for weeks fighting them off, and at the end of it…Morpheus…"

The demon had come bellowing out of the ground with hundreds more of its cohorts in the middle of an already-dense battalion of semicapers. It was just a cloud of swirling black vapors, like ash or smoke, and of course none of them could have guessed it was a demon, or that it would be so powerful. The air had been full of ash and smoke enough already with the burning remnants of semicapers and their hot breath. Daphne had given the order as captain to charge ahead, right into it.

"I got my entire team killed."

She'd quit the Army after that.

"I'm sorry, Daphne…" Rin pulled her closer.

She shook her head. It had been her team, her mistake. They'd trusted her to make tactical decisions and keep them safe and she'd screwed up. So badly that it had cost every one of them their lives and laid on her the burden of the knowledge that _she_ was responsible.

"I think about them every day."

"I know how you feel."

Daphne looked at Rin, more disbelief than she'd intended showing through in her eyes apparently because the expression sent him scrambling to explain.

"No, I do, really—I…Father Fujimoto, he died because of me. Because of something said to him. So, yeah. I know how you feel."

His statement turned a little bitter at the end, but he didn't look like he meant it. Studying his face, Daphne suddenly marveled at the way the universe worked. More than seven billion people in the world and somehow she'd managed to find one who understood her.

"What?"

Tears welled up in her eyes. "I'm sorry you had to go through that, Rin." She knew acutely what it felt like to blame yourself for someone else's death and suffering, and he'd told her that hurting the people he loved was the thing he was most afraid of. It was hard. Harder than anything Daphne had dealt with ever in her life. Blade bonding, temptaint, exorcism, PTSD…none of it was as bad as wondering "what if"? What if she hadn't ordered the charge? What if she'd waited just a minute longer? She'd what if-ed herself into oblivion so many nights since then. Rin took hold of her hand.

"We can't change the past, Daph," he said. "But sometimes I don't think we'd want to even if we could. Our memories are what make us who we are. I wouldn't be who I am or where I am or know all the people I know if things hadn't gone the way that they did, and…and right now I wouldn't want to trade you for anything."

The next beat of Daphne's heart sent a rush of summer through her veins that warmed her all the way to the tips of her fingers and she blushed. Rin was the only person who had ever made her blush. Smiling, she took his face in her hands and kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck when she felt him kissing back.

Did it change anything? No, not really. Rin would still carry the weight of his father's death on his shoulders, and she would still see her haunting memories every time she closed her eyes. Sometimes, though, it was nice just to be understood.

Someone cleared their throat and Daphne broke away from Rin to notice Yukio standing in the doorway. He lowered his fist from his mouth.

"Sorry to interrupt," he said.

Laughing a little, Daphne shook her head. "That's all right."

She got to her feet, helping Rin to his as Yukio spoke.

"We've been looking for you everywhere. Have you been in here the whole time?"

"You found them! Thank goodness…" A breathless Shiemi slid past the doorway, a Greenman familiar on her shoulder. "Are you both all right?" she asked, coming in and taking hold of one of each of their hands. "I've never seen anything like that."

"Nee!" said the Greeman in agreement.

Daphne nodded. "We're all right."

"Do you know what it was?"

Rin shook his head and Daphne answered, "I think it has something to do with blade bonding. Mephisto says it's a temptaint."

"Everyone is buzzing about it," Shiemi continued. "It was incredible!"

"Just in time, too," Yukio said.

Daphne did not like the look of the grimace that colored his face. A glance at Rin said he felt the same way.

"What's up?" he asked.

"We got a call… It's semicapers."


	19. Part 19

The next thing Rin knew, he, Daphne, Yukio, and Shiemi were all suiting up and heading down to the site of the manifestation. By the time they got there, the first responders had quarantined a couple of blocks and set up a little command center on one side. Shura was already there, Mephisto too, and the latter looked ridiculously pleased with how things had panned out.

"Daphne! Thank god." Shura stepped away from the command center table to meet them. "Mephisto says you know about these things? You gotta help us out."

"You might call Miss Lux the world's leading expert on semicapers," Mephisto grinned over his shoulder. He swung his umbrella around on his finger in a jolly fashion, earning him a fierce glare from Daphne. Shura ignored him.

"We've been reciting scripture at it since it showed up, but no dice," she said, leading their group over to the table. "Does it have a Fatal Verse?"

"Only in its first form," Daphne replied. "Then it's the first six _suras_ of the Qur'an."

" _Shit_ that's a lot."

Another team leader from the first responders pushed his way over to the table, patting out a smoking sleeve and grumbling, "Miss Kirigakure where the hell is our back-up?" He looked up then and noticed Rin and the others. "Oh. Well, you're just in time. The demons are becoming more difficult to see. Blending in with the surroundings."

"They can adapt to their environment," Daphne said. "Rapid evolution."

He took one look at Daphne's lack-of-a-Knights-of-the-True-Cross-uniform and snorted. "And who are you?"

"This is Daphne Lux," Mephisto answered. "She's the only exorcist still living who has had encounters with these demons. She'll be taking over command of the offensive."

Daphne shook her head. "No. I don't want to be in charge. I'll advise, even fight if you want me to, but I _will not_ make any command decisions." She gave Mephisto this look that would have wilted any living organism and it shut him right up.

"All right, then, Miss Lux will advise." He tapped the brim of his hat. "Do a good job, now, and keep me posted on your progress. Toodles!" With a _poof_ , he disappeared.

"Does he always duck out of the action?" Daphne asked.

"I'm afraid so," Yukio replied.

"Let's get cracking before we lose control and a couple of buildings," Shura said, motioning with her head away from the table. "Follow me."

She took them onto the roof of a house right on the edge of the quarantine. From up there, a few other exorcists could be seen on rooftops scattered throughout the zoned-off area. Arias surrounded the outside and Shura hollered at them, cupping her hands around her mouth.

"First six _suras_ of the Qur'an!" Then she muttered to herself, "Better safe than sorry."

Rin looked at Daphne. "You doing okay?" he asked.

She drew a deep breath in through her nose as she nodded. Her eyes flicked up to him for a second and a flicker of a smile passed over her mouth. Then something moved down on the street.

Pointing, Shura leapt over to the edge of the roof. "Th—"

"I see it." Daphne had already drawn Helen of Troy and was throwing it the next second. The sickle whizzed out, slicing through one of the semicaper's goat heads, continuing on its trajectory and slicing through the other on its way back. Yukio unclipped his gun and did the honors of shooting it through the heart. Shriek, heat flash, and the demon was gone before Rin could say "scorch mark."

"It's best not to observe them," Daphne said. She caught her sickle as it came boomeranging back. "They tend to multiply."

"Duly noted," Shura said with a low whistle.

"It was in its second form," Daphne added. Her gaze scanned methodically, deeply over the street, searching for movement, searching for semicapers. Rin probably should have been looking for them, too, but he was distracted watching Daphne do it, the way it made her face look. "The heads awaken as they evolve."

"So, first form means all the eyes are closed? One head for second? Two for third?" Shura asked.

Daphne nodded. "Pretty self-explanatory. The sooner you exorcise them all, the better. Less of them will manifest that way."

"Understood."

Shura lifted a little walkie talkie microphone that was clipped to her jacket to her mouth and spoke into it, running a couple of orders by the other team leader, getting agreement, and switching over to another channel to relay the message out to the whole team, Arias excluded. They weren't on headset to keep them from getting distracted.

"Exorcise any semicapers currently in your line of sight. Remember both goat heads have to get cut off before you go for the heart. Don't screw it up and get yourselves roasted." She looked over at Yukio who nodded. "I'm sending a couple back-up Senior Exorcists into the quarantine, so keep an eye out for them and don't panic and attack. Got it?"

Her team must have responded in the affirmative because Shura gave a nod and said, "Great. Rock and roll," and let the mouthpiece drop from her hand. Somewhere on the far side of the quarantine, a burst of flames shot up into the sky.

"I've gotta stay out here and play babysitter," Shura said. "Let me know if you need any of these cannon-fodder exorcists rerouted your way."

Yukio nodded, already dashing over to the door for the roof to go down onto the street with Shiemi right behind him. "Will do."

Rin was about to look at Daphne and ask if she wanted to go down and help out or stay up here when he felt that distinctive _tug_ at the back of his mind. He whirled around, his eyes instinctively following in its direction down on the street. A semicaper had hidden itself in the shadow of a porch awning, but now it was opening its mouth, and not just the snake head mouth, but a goat head mouth to boot. It was waking up.

He didn't even need to glance at Daphne to know that she had seen it, too, and the two of them went leaping from the roof onto the street almost in unison. Daphne landed next to him with a thud, stumbling a little on impact, but drawing Castor and Pollux all the same. As soon as the blades were out, her glowiness returned, just a semi-invisible outline.

"Hey!" Yukio shouted at them from the roof. "You need back-up?"

"We're good down here!" Rin returned, his eyes locked on the semicaper. "You guys go ahead to the other side of the quarantine and we can work our way toward each other!"

"Roger!"

Rin didn't turn to see if Yukio went or not. His attention was monopolized by watching the goat mouth and eyes unseal themselves, sticky and gooey and stringy and just generally gross as hell as the thing woke up and some stiffness—almost like bones were starting to grow inside—entered the head. Daphne hadn't attacked yet, so he followed her lead.

"Can't you kill them while they're changing forms?" he asked.

"No," she replied. "But they're incapacitated so they can't attack you either."

Rin's earpiece crackled and Shiemi's voice cut through the static. "Uh, Rin? Hi. Um, Yuki and I are over on the other side now and it looks like the semicapers are changing forms maybe? Any advice from Daphne?"

Daphne didn't have an earpiece since she wasn't technically with the True Cross anymore. Rin looked at her—she was laser focused on the semicaper, waiting for something—and said, "Hey, Daph? Do we kill these things the same way?"

"Cut off the non-sentient head first, then the other goat, and run it through the heart."

Rin told Shiemi what Daphne had said. "Oh," he added, "and you can't kill them while they're changing, but they can't kill you either so it's cool."

"Okay! Thank you."

The earpiece went quiet.

Rin looked back at Daphne who was looking at the semicaper, so he directed his attention that way, too. The goat head was rising slowly, its eyes open now, yellow with those creepy rectangular pupils. Its mouth was still unsealing and it chomped at the bit, opening and closing and opening and closing, getting a little more open each time, breaking stringy bits of flesh off at the same time. Then the head stopped lifting, then _snap!_ it was fully upright. Daphne reacted the same second, launching Pollux first, then Castor, timing the blades so that Pollux sliced through the neck of the sleeping goat before Castor reached the awake one. Rin wished for a split second that he'd been able to convince Daphne to teach him blade bonding—and then had about six months to practice—so he could have hurled Kurikara and stabbed the thing through the heart right after, but he didn't really have time to think about it, since the snake head opened its mouth and the machine-gun-wind sound roared into the air the next instant.

Daphne recalled Castor and Pollux, the blades going through the semicaper from the back and piercing its heart, but it was too late to stop the fire blast. A thick wall of flames came bursting out, rattling the windows and shaking the ground. Daphne lost her balance at the same time she jumped to duck and cover and Rin lost sight of her on the other side of the blast which had knocked him around a bit, too. That had to have been _at least_ twice as powerful as the one from the demon in its second form. If not more.

The flames burned out. The semicaper disappeared into a scorch mark with a fading shriek. Daphne got up from the ground.

Rin hurried over to her. "You good?"

Grimacing, Daphne nodded. She lifted her elbow to show a series of deep scrapes running down the length of her forearm and bleeding. She picked a couple pieces of asphalt out of the wound, swearing under her breath. The sight of it made Rin's stomach turn.

" _Jesus…_ "

"I've had worse," she replied. She spit onto her arm and rubbed the saliva around, trying to get some of the dirt off maybe, but causing herself a lot of pain in the process. Rin reached out and grabbed her hand.

"Holy shit, stop it!"

She looked at him and he let go because her eyes said that if he didn't there would be hell to pay. All the same, he wasn't going to condone the behavior.

"You don't have to do that, Daph," he said, frowning. "We have first-aid kits."

Daphne didn't respond. She just dropped her arm and picked up her blades and started off down the street. There were a couple more rumbling blasts as they wound their way through the block, checked inside all the buildings, but they didn't come across any more semicapers. About midway through their inspection, they ran into Yukio and Shiemi and the Intermediate Exorcists on Shura's team coming from the other direction.

"All clear?" Yukio asked.

Rin nodded. "I think so."

"We're all clear down here, Shura," Yukio said into his microphone. "You can go ahead and lower the blockade."

"Roger," crackled the reply.

A little of that exorcism energy fizzled out of the air as the barriers that had been keeping the demons in the area disappeared. Daphne sheathed her blades, but the glow lingered for a few seconds afterward. Next to where they stood, one of the homes in the quarantine was smoking. The lingering effects of a semicaper blast. Shiemi noticed Daphne's wound.

"Oh! Miss L—Daphne, you're hurt, here, one moment. Nee?" Shiemi looked at the Greenman who responded with an adamant nod and grew a spring of some plant or other off the end of his arm. Shiemi thanked him and broke it off, breaking it into even smaller pieces as she approached Daphne. "Come sit down…"

Shiemi took Daphne's hand and led her over to someone's porch and sat her in a rocking chair. Daphne lifted her arm to give Shiemi a better look and an easier workspace. Yukio motioned with his head for Rin to step over with him.

"How'd she hold up?" he asked quietly.

Rin shrugged. "Okay, I think. I don't know."

"She seems…different."

"Yeah. Kinda…quiet?"

Yukio nodded. "Restrained, maybe."

"I can hear you."

Grimacing, Rin turned around and so did Yukio and they both smiled apologetically at Daphne who did not smile back. In fact, she almost didn't have an expression on her face at all. She looked cold, and stony. Like an Army captain.

Shiemi finished bandaging her up, wrapping a long leaf of another plant Nee had grown for her around Daphne's arm. The plant stuck to itself once Shiemi let go.

"Finished," she said with a smile.

Daphne nodded, just one curt nod, and stood up. "Thank you, Shiemi." She looked at Rin, then at Yukio. "I'd like to go now. Unless you need me to stay and make a report?"

Yukio shook his head. "No, that's all right. Rin can cover your portion of the exorcism."

"Thank you."

She started to go, so Rin had to jump and get moving to catch up to her.

"Where are you going? I'll meet you when we're finished here."

Daphne halted. "I need some time to myself," she said. Her face and eyes were so calm when she looked at him, so expressionless that it was almost more unsettling to see her like that than it had been to see her when she was afraid during one of her panic attacks. "I'll call you later."

Rin watched her go, trying hard not to wonder what he'd gotten himself into.


	20. Part 20

Daphne had no intention of calling Rin later. Not because she didn't want to see him, but because she didn't think she would be ready to for a long, long while. She went to a private twenty-four hour exorcist gym instead, one on the very edge of Academy Town, and signed herself up for a membership and booked one of the private sparring rings for the rest of the night.

She'd been drawing Castor and Pollux from her shoulders since she'd been given them fifteen years ago. By now even the pinch that accompanied the blades as they exited her body was barely noticeable. Breathing deep, Daphne touched the tip of Castor to the floor, felt the spark of energy as the sword secured to the mat, then she lifted herself into a handstand holding onto the grip.

It was how she began every session with her blades.

The central pillar of blade bonding was sensing the constant force Gehenna and Assiah exerted on each other in ebbs and pulls and tensions, between living beings, between inanimate objects. A deep connection with a demon sword allowed an exorcist to tap into that tension and manipulate it, just bending the pull slightly one way or the other to change the energy acting on the blade itself as well as the exorcist. Daphne had discovered the technique quite by accident during her deployment in Egypt.

The energies felt distinct now, she noticed, as she shut her eyes and breathed deep and let the rest of her thoughts leave her head. More contrasted. Much brighter light, much darker shadows. Gehenna pulled more strongly on Assiah and Assiah pushed harder to keep Gehenna back. The pushes and pulls came and went in cycles, of course. There had been times in the past when the difference between the two worlds almost could not be felt at all. Just gray. Just two places wrapped around each other.

Daphne lowered herself to the ground. She bent the energy and disconnected Castor from the ground. Lifting the blade high, she drew Pollux and began a slow series, shutting her eyes and letting her mind go blank.

When she opened her eyes again it was dark and she was breathing heavily and Rin was standing at the door near the edge of the mat.

"Hey," he said.

She stared at him. How long had he been there?

"You didn't call." How long had it been?

"I know," she said.

It was his turn to be quiet then.

"What time is it?" Daphne asked, breathless. The moon was shining in through the glass ceiling of the gym.

"Two eighteen," Rin replied.

Had he been looking for her all night? It was so _late…_ Suddenly Daphne noticed how tired she was, a wash of exhaustion overtaking her body. She hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, even with her sparring match against Rin and the semicaper attack. She was starving and her muscles were starting to get jittery with the lack of calories to burn. Her tongue was like a wad of cotton in her mouth. Unconsciously, she put Castor's tip to the floor and leaned against the blade like a crutch.

"I was…" she said, then had to take a deep breath to continue. "I was doing research."

"On what happened today when we sparred?"

She nodded and Rin came forward finally, stepping out of the shadows and into the ring. The moonlight caught that glint in his eyes, made them look even brighter a blue than they already were. For whatever reason, it made Daphne want to kiss him. He stopped just in front of her and tucked his hands into his pockets.

"Any leads?"

Daphne had to think for a moment, clear the weary clouds that had gathered in her mind, but she nodded. "I was practicing blade bonding long before my encounter with Morpheus," she said, still putting the pieces of the puzzle together even as she spoke, "and I think my connection to my blades is what allowed me to be under that temptaint for so long without too much harm. Either they protected me against it or acted like an immunization. The temptaint has definitely strengthened my connection to Gehenna, leading to the glowing, and _that_ has something to do with you."

That surprised him. He jolted a little and almost took a step back.

"It wasn't happening until you got here," she finished.

They both looked at her hands, at her body, at the halo that now surrounded her entire being and her blades. When she'd drawn them, it hadn't been there, or if it had it hadn't been very bright, though it was not nearly as bright now as before when she and Rin had sparred. It must have had some connection to the blue flame. That was the only explanation.

"I have Kurikara," he said, sensing her thoughts and swinging the sword down from his back. "Do you want me to draw it?"

Daphne nodded. "Please."

He did and blue light fell onto the circular walls. Daphne's aura sputtered, then grew gradually brighter as Rin's flames changed color, lightening ever so slightly.

"Do _you_ feel different?" she asked.

He was quick to nod. "Yeah, totally. Whatever's going on with you gives me more control over the flames. It's easier for me to…I don't know… _feel_ them?"

"Hm."

She sheathed Pollux experimentally and her halo lessened and Rin's flames flickered in response. Castor followed and her aura went out and Rin's flames took on their regular blue. So the blades had to be active to create the effect.

"Different?" she asked Rin.

"Yeah. _Well_ , the same. The same as it usually is anyways."

He shrugged and she drew the blades again. Halo, brighter Satanic fire. Daphne set Castor and Pollux down.

"Don't move," she said and stepped toward Rin, her hand out in front of her.

"What are you doing?"

He shied back instinctively as she came closer, but she scolded him with, "I said don't move," so he fell into a stiff pose, gritting his teeth. He was used to keeping away from people when the flames were burning, used to staying back and out of the way so he wouldn't hurt anyone, but something told Daphne that she wouldn't need to worry. She was right in front of him then, and she extended her reach a little farther until her hand was covered completely by Rin's flames, just above his chest.

"Look," she said because he'd shut his eyes tightly in preparation for the worst.

He cracked one eye open and then nearly toppled over when he saw what was going on.

"Holy shit, _how?_ "

She shook her head. "I don't know."

"Can you feel that? Does it hurt?"

Daphne could see him fighting the urge to move away from her and get her hand out of the flames, so she shook her head and he eased a little, though he stayed tense.

"I don't feel them at all," she replied. "If anything they're cool."

"Cool as in—"

"Cool as in cold, Rin," she said and rolled her eyes with a laugh.

"Oh."

His face fell a little, which only made Daphne chuckle more, which made his expression fall further, so she secured her hand around the back of his neck and pulled him forward into a kiss. It surprised him, but he was quick to kiss her back, wrapping his arms around her waist. She smiled into his face as she drew away.

"Thank you for coming to find me," she said.

"You just went into Army captain mode or something earlier," he replied, "so I wanted to make sure you were all right."

Tilting her head, Daphne smiled sadly to herself and brushed her fingers through his hair. She didn't deserve him. She didn't know what she'd done to warrant such a kind and dedicated and fearless person coming into her life, but she was grateful.

"Where would I be without you?" she said.

"Well, you probably wouldn't be glowing."

That made her laugh. She pulled herself close and hugged him, hanging on tight. She really couldn't feel the flames, and she marveled at that, watching them dance around her arms over Rin's shoulder. He touched a gentle kiss to the base of her neck that made her shiver.

"You want to go get something to eat?" he asked.

Daphne laughed again. "Absolutely."


	21. Part 21

The only place that was open and nearby was a gas station convenience store, so they grabbed a couple of crappy burritos and a big bag of chips and went up to the park to eat. It was still warm out and the park was empty, moths flittering around the streetlights that cast shadows through the trees and stuff. It was quiet, the air heavy with humidity and the echoes of crickets. Daphne had bought herself a ramune, too, and she peeled back the plastic around the top, popped out the plunger, and jammed it into the bottle to release the marble with a _fizz-clink_ that sounded abnormally loud in the quiet. She knocked back a good half the bottle before taking a breath.

"Sugar," she said, smiling, her eyes watering with the carbonation.

"Is this the first time you've eaten since breakfast?" Rin asked, feeling a little guilty that his making, or instigating rather, her little conversation-turned-standoff with Mephisto had cut out lunch.

She nodded, took another sip and the marble clinked again. "Yeah."

"I'm sorry."

She laughed. "Don't be. I feel like we've apologized to each other more times in the last twenty-four hours than most couples do in a month."

Rin smiled. Couple. He liked that word. He and Daphne were a _couple_. Giving it a name like that made him feel all fuzzy and shit. He jumped when she leaned against him, but recovered quickly and put his arm around her shoulders.

"Did you used to come here when you were a kid?" Daphne asked.

"Yeah, all the time," Rin replied. "I got in trouble a lot and I'd come down here to hide out."

" _No._ You? In trouble? I don't believe it."

He scowled at her and she laughed. He didn't really have anything else to say, and the quiet was nice, so he didn't. Daphne unwrapped her burrito, but didn't eat it just yet.

"I know a lot of people miss being a kid, but I don't," she said.

He nodded, thinking. "Being a kid is hard."

"Being _alive_ is hard," she responded, laughing a little to herself and shaking her head at her lap. "The past two years, before I came to Japan, I…I was all by myself." She looked at him and smiled. "I forgot how nice it is to have someone to be there for you."

"Anytime, Daph."

He would have said the same thing she had, except that he'd always had people who were there for him. Until now, though, they were different. Rin had always suspected that most people put up with him, dealt with his ticks because they were family or because they'd been friends too long to get rid of him now or because they were coworkers and didn't have any other choice. Yukio was a good brother, but always a little exasperated, Shura a good friend, but always a tease. Daphne was the only person Rin had met who didn't act like she had to "deal" with him. He hadn't ever thought about it like that before.

Leaning forward, Daphne gave him a light peck, and he held onto her when she started to draw away, so she kissed him again, and he kissed her, and it tasted sweet like ramune.

He ran his fingers through her hair and she brought herself toward him, pressing her lips fervently to his as he let his hands slide to her neck, her shoulders. Why was it that the world stopped when she kissed him? Why was it that all he could think about was spending the rest of his life with her and making sukiyaki together every night and fighting alongside each other and how in love with her he was.

Rin started.

In love?

He was _in love with her?_

Daphne was close now and his hands had started to wander and she looked at him when he pulled back. Her breath was warm on his face, her hands around his back. He could feel her heart beating in his chest because it was pressed against his. He was in love with her. _Holy shit_ he was in _love_ with her.

"What?"

Rin swallowed. "Nothing. Sorry."

She applied a little pressure with a gentle palm on the back of his head and brought his face forward so she could kiss him and he melted all over again. After a moment, she pulled away, looking into his eyes.

"I wouldn't trade you either, Rin," she said softly.

His heart was beating hard in his eardrums. Should he tell her? Should he tell her how he felt? She looked like maybe she was about to say something else, but she yawned and her eyes watered and she just smiled at the end of it.

"Did you, um… Do you want to head home?" he asked.

Shaking her head, Daphne let him go, but stayed close, picking up her food and gesturing with it. "Not until we're finished eating."

Rin nodded, but he wasn't exactly hungry anymore. Daphne devoured her burrito and half the bag of chips. By the time she was done, Rin had hardly taken more than a few bites, and she looked at him for a prompt, so he stood up and carried what was left of his burrito to a trash can. Daphne stood, too, and brushed off her lap, rolled the top of the bag of chips, and took his hand when he offered it. Together they started walking.

Daphne drew in a breath. "About the semicapers…"

Rin had completely forgotten about the semicapers. About Morpheus. About the grade-A shit-storm that was headed their direction.

"If I go into 'Army captain mode' again, it's all right. Don't worry about it. That's a safe space for me. Mentally, I mean."

Rin nodded. "Okay."

"Anything else, though… Anything else I'd like it if you stuck with me. Helped me through it."

She glanced at him, so he stopped walking and pulled her close, using the hand he held as an anchor. He brushed her hair back out of her face.

"Of course, Daph."

Her eyes sparkled, maybe with tears, maybe with leftover carbonation from the drink, maybe because Rin was turning into some kind of sappy dope and he'd just imagined that glint, but she smiled and pressed her face into his hand.

"Thank you."

"Sure," he said when what he wanted to say was, "I love you."


	22. Part 22

The cram school began a couple afternoons later with some heavy reading—a packet, provided by Mephisto, but undoubtedly written by Daphne, that was mandatory material for all students and teachers. Rin's fledgling Knights were squirming in their seats, dying apparently because they had to read instead of getting to run drills.

"Okumura-sensei, what does this even have to _do_ with us?"

"Just read it," Rin replied.

"What's a semicaper? Is that the kind of demon Lux-sensei is supposed to know about?"

"Are you and Lux-sensei going out?"

"Is Lux-sensei the one he sparred against?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh my god, Okumura-sensei, that was _so cool_."

"Yeah, do you know what happened? What was that anyway?"

"Lux-sensei is super pretty. You're so lucky."

"Have you guys kissed yet?"

He'd kicked them out after that last one and forced them to run laps until they were whining at him all over again to let them go inside and get out of the heat and finish reading the stupid packet, but he made sure they were good and sorry first.

The packet was actually pretty useful, detailing the five forms of semicapers and how to exorcise each one, typical signs of a manifestation, what to expect when one did manifest, and so on and so forth. Daphne had told him all of it by then, of course, but it was nice to have a study guide. Rin noticed, though, that the section on Morpheus in his copy of the packet was conspicuously missing from his students'. When the bell rang, he met Daphne for lunch.

"How come the exwires don't get to know about Morpheus?" he asked, tossing his packet on Daphne's desk.

"Ask Mephisto," she replied. "I don't believe in censorship."

She picked up her bag and slung the strap over her shoulder and started out of the room. Something about her response didn't sit right with Rin. He caught her wrist as she passed through the doorway.

"Talk to me, Daph."

Her hands started to shake, so he laced his fingers with hers.

"Everything I know about Morpheus is conjecture, Rin," she said. "Any, all, or none of what's written in that packet could be real. I mentioned to Mephisto that hypothetical demonology might be a little beyond the exwires and pages. And the content…" She shivered. "The ultimate decision was up to him. Apparently he agreed."

Rin had read over the section on Morpheus at least three or four times and he had to admit, he didn't exactly understand it all himself. Basically it came down to three things: Morpheus was a high level demon with unending hordes of semicapers at its beck and call, it manifested in an enormous black cloud like a dust storm, and once you entered that dust storm, the demon was able to manipulate your memories and senses to make you see and hear and remember hundreds of different things at once. Daphne had written some of her maybe-false memories down, and every one of them was horrifying. People unraveled like yarn from top to bottom starting with their skin, choking gas that filled the lungs and stayed there when you tried to exhale, burrowing coltars that moved through the bloodstream to the brain. It was no wonder Daphne had panic attacks.

She'd told him about those, too, about why she had them, one night while they'd sat up together. She'd see something or hear something or smell something and it would remind her of an event and send her right back into her memories. The fact that she wasn't sure what was real and what was not didn't exactly help either.

The True Cross could only do so much in terms of preparation even with her help, and there hadn't been any more semicaper manifestations since the last one. It had Yukio and some of the other senior exorcists worried. How were they supposed to study and prepare without any subjects? That was why Daphne had put together the packet.

"If Morpheus _does_ manifest, all they'll need to know is to keep away from it," she added. "With any luck they won't be deep enough into any battle to even _see_ it."

When Daphne had fought Morpheus the first time, it had surrounded itself with fifth form semicapers and exorcising them was tricky business. You had to cut off all three of the heads within seconds of each other, otherwise they'd grow back stronger than before, and you had to cut them off in the right order, but the order was different from demon to demon so it was guess work until you got it and it would get harder and harder to cut heads off in the first place. On top of that you had to completely remove the heart from the body and burn it after the rest of the body disappeared so it couldn't regenerate. Not exactly exwire level stuff.

"They shouldn't be involved at all. Not unless they have to be."

Rin decided not to mention to Daphne that he had been in more than his fair share of battles he probably shouldn't have been in while he was training to become an exorcist. Instead he just gave her a thumbs up.

"Gotcha."

Daphne shivered again. "Can we get lunch now?"

Rin nodded. "Sure."

They ate with Shura and Yukio and parted ways to finish out the school day, coming together again in the afternoon for a cram school meeting Mephisto had called for all Knights and anyone studying for a Knight meister, though the demon king himself was conspicuously missing from the crowd. They gathered in one of the larger practice gyms, leaning against the walls or sitting on equipment until Daphne walked out into the middle of the ring and they all went quiet, ready to listen.

"How many of you have demon blades?" she asked, straight to business.

Rin and Shura raised their hands along with a few other exorcists and two of the exwires. Daphne took a long moment to look at each of them in turn.

"If the seven of you could all step to the side?" She gestured at the far wall, so they shuffled through the crowd to meet up out of the way. Shura tried to ruffle Rin's hair but he shoved her arm away before her hand could reach him.

"Lord Pheles has asked that I begin teaching blade bonding to the Japan Branch of the Knights of the True Cross."

Collective gasp. Mephisto and Daphne had been discussing far more in their meetings than Rin had guessed, apparently. It made him uneasy, but also grateful, to think that he hadn't been there for any of it. It was common knowledge that Mephisto and Daphne didn't exactly get along. Whatever it must have taken to get her to agree to this couldn't have been very pretty.

"For those of you unfamiliar with the term, blade bonding is the technique I used which you saw in my match against Mr. Okumura. It does require an exorcist to be in possession of a demon blade, however, there are aspects that can be accessed by Knights with ordinary swords as well," Daphne said. "I've agreed to teach an evening class on this, and Lord Pheles requests that I test each of you to see if you're disposed toward bonding, and if you are, to make enrollment mandatory. Personally, I don't agree with this. Blade bonding can be painful and it is difficult. If any of you don't want to be tested, you can leave now and I'll tell Lord Pheles you didn't pass the initial exam. Unfortunately, this doesn't apply to those of you with demon blades." She glanced at Rin, then the others. "I'll give you all a moment to make your decisions."

With a nod of her head, Daphne stepped away from the center of the ring. Little conversations sprang up among the exorcists, talking over the risks, the rewards, what in the hell was going on in general. Daphne came over to the small group of demon-blade-having exorcists, Rin specifically.

"I thought you said you didn't want the exwires involved?"

"I don't," she replied. "But I'm not in charge of this school or the Knights of the True Cross and I _do_ want them to be prepared if something does happen."

She glanced at the two exwires who had the unfortunate distinction of having inherited demon blades, Hiriko and Katsumi. They looked nervous as hell, staring back at Daphne with wide eyes. They probably should have been more freaked out than they already were. They'd seen Daphne fight, but they didn't know anything else about her or the hard-ass, badass, crazy-ass that she was. Her eyes flicked back to Rin.

"How was the rest of your day?"

It seemed like such a bizarre question to ask right then. Ridiculously casual like there wasn't a demon horde waiting on the other side in Gehenna, ready to manifest and burn them all to pieces.

"Um…fine?" Rin replied.

Shura came over and slung her arm around Rin's shoulders. "So, are we gonna, like, learn this shit or something?"

Daphne nodded. "Mephisto wants as many exorcists who can manage blade bonding to have it on their skill list. And I hate to agree with him, but…"

"Morpheus is coming and it's possible that blade bonding is the only thing that kept you alive. Yup. Got it." Shura bobbed her head up and down. "Frankly, I'm excited. I've wanted to try this technique since the Army sent me those tapes a few years back."

"You're a good candidate," Daphne agreed. "And you're already a step ahead of Rin."

She gestured at Shura's seal tattoos and Rin glared at her. She just smiled, though it seemed a little forced to Rin's eye, and stepped away, calling the other Knights back to attention.

"Last chance to leave," she announced.

A few exorcists trickled out, but most stayed. Call it professional curiosity. It would be stupid to throw away the chance to learn a new technique, but it was equally stupid to get involved in a logistical and hierarchal nightmare like this battle plan was turning out to be. Rin half-wished Kurikara _wasn't_ a demon blade and that he wasn't standing in the group of prospective blade bonders, but he'd long ago come to terms with the fact that wishing didn't change anything.

Daphne tested each Knight in turn, asking them to shut their eyes and focus on Gehenna while she held onto their sword. Rin didn't know what she was looking for, but by the time she'd been through them all a good number were dismissed and others received notes and information about the Tuesday night blade-bonding-for-regular-types class. Then she turned her attention to those who were left in the room. The exorcists with demon swords.

"Just so we're clear on the reality of what the seven of you are getting into…" She looked at each of them seriously. "…this is very, _very_ dangerous."

Swallowing, the exwires nodded. Everybody else exchanged glances.

"I've spent years researching blade bonding, and even I don't know its limits. I'm hoping—and maybe this is stupid—but I'm hoping that introducing other exorcists into it might change the energy of how it works. Or that one or some or all of you will be able to figure things out that I haven't. That being said, I'd like to show you what _I_ understand to be the limit. At least the limit I've discovered. All right?"

They nodded again and Daphne nodded back. Drawing a breath, she drew Pollux from her shoulder and whirled it around into a reverse grip. She shut her eyes and went still while the rest of them watched in absolute silence. Carefully, and Rin had seen her do something like this before, Daphne placed the end of the blade on her sternum and pushed.

The other exorcists tensed. So did Rin. He couldn't help it. The girl he was in love with was shoving a blade through her chest, what _wasn't_ worth tensing up about when it came to that? He watched the slightest, controlled flickers of pain pass over Daphne's face as Pollux emerged on the other side of her body and she reached back to take hold of the blade and pull it through. Finished, she sucked in a breath and opened her eyes.

"There."

She sat them down and walked them through what blade bonding was and how it worked. Rin wasn't sure he understood what she meant when she talked about the flow of energy between Assiah and Gehenna, how they pulled on each other, but maybe having one foot in both worlds meant he sensed things differently from other exorcists. Shura seemed to pick up what Daphne was laying down, nodding along with statements she made, asking questions. They didn't do any actual blade bonding or bend any energy like Daphne described, but they did set up a session to all meet again Saturday morning to get started. At the end of the meeting, Daphne pulled the exwires aside to talk to them.

Shura tapped Rin's shoulder. "I'm on call after this, but you guys wanna grab drinks once I'm off?"

"Huh?"

Rin had been watching the way Daphne was talking to those kids. Quietly, maybe putting some of their fears at ease.

"I said you guys wanna get drinks when I'm off?" Shura put two of her fingers together and poked them into the middle of Rin's forehead, pushing him back. He slapped her away.

"Yeah, if Daphne wants to," he replied with a scowl.

"Why wouldn't she want to?"

Daphne examined the two exwires' blades, turning them over in careful hands, smiling when she handed them back and made comments Rin couldn't hear. Shura waved her hand in front of his face.

"Hellooo?"

Rin jumped. "Sorry! What?"

"I _said_ ," she said, rolling her eyes, "that I'll be at Ishinohana whether you lame-os are coming or not, so let me know if you want to and I'll save you a seat. I gotta roll." She gestured with her head at the door, patted his shoulder, and started walking backwards to head out. "And don't get lost on your way there, lover boy."

Rin looked over to shout some obscenity back at her, but Shura was already through the door laughing. Daphne had finished with the exwires and they were picking up their bags against the wall where we was standing, so he double decided against it.

"We're all gonna be in the Saturday class together, right, Okumura-sensei?" Hiriko asked, adjusting the straps of her backpack on her shoulders. She was a shy kid from an exorcist family up in Sapporo and had been one of Rin's students since last year. She'd inherited this crazy-huge Zanbato blade through her family line which she carried strapped across the backpack. Rin nodded, trying to look encouraging.

"Yeah. No worries. We'll all be on the learning curve for sure."

She nodded, her eyes pointed at her feet. Katsumi, the other exwire with a demon blade, came over with his bag, carrying his katana, and tried to catch Hiriko's gaze but was unsuccessful. The exwires had become fast friends, both studying for the same meister, both under the burden of family legacy and blah blah blah. Katsumi smiled and started to walk away and Hiriko fell into step beside him.

"See you tomorrow, Okumura-sensei," he said and waved.

Rin watched them go, wondering how it was that he'd felt like such an adult at their age and how _they_ seemed so much like children. Honestly sometimes he felt like he was still fifteen and was teaching a bunch of seven-year-olds or something.

Daphne was suddenly by his side.

"Is it totally evil of me to be excited to have young students?" she asked, looking to Rin from Katsumi and Hiriko as they went through the door.

Rin shook his head. "No. They'll probably be easier to teach than the rest of us." It was easy for exorcists to get set in their ways, techniques, routines. Rin had been that way right up until Daphne had come along and thrown him for a loop or fifteen.

"True," she said.

"Shura was asking if we wanted to go get drinks with her later?"

Daphne nodded. "Yeah, of course."

Rin relaxed. He didn't know why he was so worked up about what Daphne would or wouldn't want to do. They went out with Shura all the time, it was totally normal, but now that they were dating he was anxious for some stupid reason.

"What were you doing with their demon blades?" he asked as she started packing up her stuff.

"Sensing their connection," she replied. He raised his eyebrows at her, so she elaborated. "Every exorcist is connected to their blade by the energy I mentioned earlier. Depending on how long the blade has been in the family, how much an individual has personally fought with it, how long ago it was forged, and about a million other factors, the strength of that connection varies. I just wanted to get an idea of how easy it will be to get them to blade bond."

"What about me?"

She laughed. "What _about_ you?"

He picked up Kurikara from its place against the wall and held it out for her to take.

"I don't need to hold Kurikara to feel the connection you have with that blade," she said, serious but smiling. "That was the first thing I noticed about you."

Once upon a time Rin would have been disappointed that the first thing Daphne had noticed about him hadn't been his rugged good looks, but apparently he'd grown up a little. The thought _did_ cross his mind, but it was swiftly overpowered by an enormous sense of flattery, then a warm glow. Kurikara was more a part of him than he could explain or describe, not like part of his body, but part of his soul. Nobody else had ever understood that, and Daphne had noticed from the moment they'd first met. Who would've thought?

He was so caught up in the feeling, that he didn't really sense that familiar tug at the back of his mind. Or the others that followed when Daphne kissed him goodbye with tests to grade before that evening.


	23. Part 23

There were already two empty pints on the table in front of Shura by the time Daphne and Rin made it to Ishinohana. It was a loud, rowdy, Western-style bar that reminded Daphne of a pub she used to go to in Boston while at the same time feeling very much like a place in which Shura could have been part of the wallpaper. A waitress was setting another three pints down as they walked up to the table.

"Just in time," Shura grinned. Her arms were slung over the back of the plastic leather seat, and she sat up to readjust as Daphne slid into the circular booth next to her.

"Were these for you?" Daphne asked, chuckling as she pointed at the glasses.

"They're for _you_ now," Shura replied and picked one of them up to sip some of the foam off the top. "You gonna sit down, weirdo?"

Rin hadn't joined them, lingering next to the table, looking back over his shoulder at the bar with his eyes squinted like he was trying to make a decision.

"I think I'll order something to eat—"

Shura rolled her eyes. "This kid and food…"

"—you want anything, Daph?"

Daphne smiled. "Soft pretzel sticks?"

Rin nodded. "Shura?"

"Get the big pretzel sticks. I only want, like, two."

Rin nodded again and started toward the bar, a determined look in his eye. Daphne shook her head and picked up her pint. Shura leaned over and stuck her nose into Daphne's face.

"Soooo?"

"So what?" Daphne laughed.

"How are _things?_ "

"Don't do that with your hands," Daphne replied, laughing still and putting her hand on top of Shura's to pin them to the table.

"That's not an answer to my question," Shura trilled.

"Things are fine."

"Fine?"

"Fine."

" _Fine?_ "

"Yes, Shura. We're good. I promise."

Shura eyeballed her, but flopped back against the seat, picking up her pint. "Honestly, Daph, I don't know how that kid doesn't drive you absolutely bonkers." She took a long draw off the beer that left a foam mustache on her upper lip. It was hard to take the next thing she said seriously. "Haven't you noticed what a dumbass he is?"

Daphne just laughed. "You've got a little something on your face, Shura."

"I'm serious," Shura said, licking the foam off. "What do you see in him?"

Daphne sat back. What _did_ she see in Rin? There didn't seem to be a concrete answer, something she could point to as what had drawn her to him or kept her there. She didn't know how to respond, so she didn't for a moment.

"I don't know," she said eventually.

"Well, _that's_ not good."

"No—not like that, just… I don't know how to explain it. There isn't any one thing. It's just _Rin._ As a whole. Like all the things that make him _him_ and make me _me_ wound up creating two people who were meant to be together. God that sounds so stupid…" She shook her head, flexed her hands over the glass of her pint. When she looked over at Shura, Shura was staring at her.

"Damn, kid," she said.

Daphne half-smiled. Damn, kid was right. She didn't know what she was doing, and part of her was uncomfortable at being so comfortable in such a new relationship. Quite the paradox. Sipping her beer, Daphne replied, "But to answer your first question, yes. I _have_ noticed what a dumbass he is."

Rin came back then, arms loaded down with a plate of cheese fries, two orders of onion rings, a club sandwich, a bowl of olives, another beer, and a large basket of soft pretzel sticks. He had a little dish of mustard to dip them in clutched in his teeth.

"They _have_ waiters, idiot," Shura said and reached out to catch the fries as the plate started to tip. She set them on the table, then folded her arms to let Rin struggle with the rest.

"I ask fo a tay, ut dey oudln gi ee un," he said around the mustard dish.

Shura looked at Daphne, her eyebrows raised to case-in-point position. Laughing, Daphne got up and reached over the table to unload Rin as he bent over to get his arms closer to the surface since he didn't have any spare ones. Once all the food was safely transferred, Rin took the mustard dish out of his mouth, drooling a little and getting most of it on the dish and in the mustard. Shura had picked up a pretzel, but when Rin set the dish down and scooted it toward her, she just looked at it for a moment, then up at him.

"You're kidding me, right?"

"What?"

"I'm sure you two have exchanged plenty of spit by now, but _I'm_ not in a mood to join the club," she grumbled. "I'll be back with my _own_ mustard." Scooting out of the booth, Shura headed over to the bar.

Rin sat down, arranging all the food on the table as he slid over next to Daphne. He pushed the pretzel basket into a position where both Shura and Daphne would be able to reach it when Shura got back.

"Thanks for the pretzels," Daphne said.

"Sure." Rin picked up a couple of fries and dipped them in the mustard. "You can have some of this other stuff, too, if you want."

Daphne looked at him, watched him eat for a moment or two before he looked over at her, fries in his mouth.

"What?" he said again.

She'd been trying to pinpoint something, just one trait, one _thing_ she could have named that made her feel the way she did about him, but of course she wasn't going to tell _him_ that, so she just smiled instead.

"You're very sweet," she said.

Maybe that's what it was. Rin just wanted people to be happy. Daphne had spent almost every day of her life around people who had wanted to make her miserable like them, and had succeeded. Hurting her, pressuring her, pushing her past her breaking point until she no longer had one and _every_ point was a breaking point. Rin wasn't like that. Rin saw the good in people. In the world.

She might have kissed him, but Shura came back with her personal mustard and as she set it on the table, the table vibrated.

In fact, the whole _building_ vibrated.

"Shit," Shura said, spilling the mustard, but the curse wasn't about the mustard. She looked at Rin and Daphne. "You feel that?"

Daphne nodded.

Demons.

* * *

Why did two out of every three nights out have to end with an exorcism? Rin shoved a few more fries in his mouth and took a bite of the sandwich before starting to slide out of the booth after Daphne to follow Shura who was already halfway to the entrance so she could take a look outside, but it turned out they didn't need to look outside.

The demons were in the restaurant.

"Shit!" Rin yelped, leaping forward to shove a patron's head down as a third-form, carpet-colored semicaper rose from the floor and started to open its mouth. He landed on top of the lady just in time to save her from becoming a human marshmallow, but didn't quite have enough balance not to fall on top of her as he dodged the blast himself. She cursed him out, or maybe cursed the other demon out, he wasn't sure, but by the time he got to his feet, Daphne and Shura had already drawn their blades.

"They're manifesting in their third form so soon," Daphne whispered.

Sure enough, there were two sets of glowing eyes. One goat, one snake. Across the bar, the second semicaper in the pair let loose a fiery blast. Patrons screamed, glass shattered, the curtains over the archway to the bathrooms caught on fire.

"Everybody down!" Shura bellowed and anybody stupid enough to still be on their feet hit the floor. Rin swung Kurikara down from his back and stepped over to her. Daphne was delayed a second, but she followed.

"Get to the exit!" Shura cried, a few of the words lost under another burst of flames. Some guy was army crawling on the ground right by her legs to get to the door and she reached down to grab hold of his collar and yank him up. "You. Call the Knights of the True Cross and tell them there's been a semicaper manifestation. Got that? Se. Mi. Ca. Per. Tell them Kirigakure, Okumura, and Lux are already here but to send back up _immediately_. Good?"

Terrified, both of Shura and the semicapers, the guy nodded furiously, his head bobbing up and down in a frenzy. Shura dropped him and he bolted to the door, pulling his phone out of his pocket and dialing even as he went. Shura looked at Daphne.

"Any suggestions?"

"I don't want to take command," Daphne replied softly. Her eyes were locked on the semicaper on the far side of the room, tracking it like she knew exactly how it was going to move.

"I wasn't asking you to take command. There's three of us. Who needs a commander?"

Daphne turned and glared at Shura. Shura just clicked her tongue.

"Let's just kill the damn things, huh?" she said.

The fire on the curtains burned through the rod and it fell clattering to the ground, lighting the carpet where it landed. Most of the patrons were out of there by then, or almost out, or huddling behind the bar or in booths, so actually not very many of them were out. Rin rolled his eyes. Nobody could ever listen to instructions.

"Cut off the dormant head, then the other goat, then the snake," Daphne hissed. "Stab it through the heart and don't miss. I'll take care of this one…"

Her grip tightened on her blades and she stalked off after the semicaper she'd been eyeballing. Shura looked at Rin.

"You wanna get the demon or the people?"

"Which do you want?"

"Demon," Shura answered.

Rin nodded and they broke from each other, him hurrying over to the nearest booth and spouting his rehearsed line about being an exorcist and would you please follow me before ushering the patrons toward the exit. Fang changed form in Shura's hands and she swung at the semicaper, nicking its ear, but missing ultimately because she had to get her ass out of the way of another fire blast. It was taking these demons way less time to recharge that skill than it the others from before.

The air boiled with the heat, making those weird invisible wavy lines. Rin moved from table to table, encouraging people toward the exit, covering their butts as they moved. Daphne and her semicaper disappeared from sight around a wall; Shura got her first goat head cut off. A semicaper manifested right in front of Rin.

"Holy shit!"

He pulled his latest group of escapees to a halt and sent them running in the other direction, yelling "Go! Go!" He didn't hesitate to draw Kurikara after that. This demon had manifested because the others hadn't been exorcised yet. They would only keep multiplying if Rin didn't take care of it now.

The blue flame sprang to life, then shifted from its usual blue to that lighter one that meant it was interacting with Daphne, who he heard swear on the other side of the wall, probably noticing the return of her aura. With a precise motion, Rin swung at the sleeping goat head right in front of him, succeeding in cutting it off, but getting his tail caught by one of the semicaper's claws in the process. The demon yanked on it.

"Ow! Hey!"

Rin chopped at its arm with Kurikara, so the demon let go, but sent a blast of red-hot flames right at his head at the same time. He ducked, and had his hair not already been on fire of its own volition, he might have gotten a little singed.

"Jesus," he grumbled.

A quick glance at Shura and she was working on getting the snake head off her demon now, a brief view of Daphne in a mirror in the other room showed a half-decapitated sentient goat and an angry snake coming at her, another semicaper with all three of its heads close behind. He needed to kill this one and get over there to help her.

The air was full of that whirring sound the demons made while recharging, the pop and crackle of flames. It was hellishly hot, sweat dripping into Rin's eyes as he swung for the goat head, missed, but caught it on the rebound. It wasn't quite sizzling on the floor before the snake head followed and Rin rammed the body through the heart with his sword.

"Gotcha," he grinned.

Its claw struck out and nearly grabbed hold of his tail again. Squawking, Rin only just managed to dodge.

"What the hell?!"

"The heart's on the _right_ side of the chest, dumbass!" Shura called.

She disconnected her snake head, but by then two more semicapers had arrived. She ran her opponent through the heart, then moved onto the next one while Rin rolled his eyes, unsheathed Kurikara from the semicaper's chest, and shoved it through the other side. In a flash of heat, the demon disappeared.

One of the other two that had manifested was headed for Daphne. Rin regrouped to go that direction, too. As he rounded the wall into the adjoining room, he saw Castor go through Daphne's first demon's chest and her hurl Pollux at the second. The blade got stuck in the goat's throat and she summoned it back, getting ready to hurl it again. That third demon was almost on top of her.

"Daph!" Rin called. The machine gun sound was louder with three demons all making it right in close quarters.

She saw him, then the third demon, and at the same time they both moved to attack it—Rin raising Kurikara, his flames growing brighter in proximity to Daphne; Daphne drawing Helen of Troy from her neck and preparing to throw it. The second demon closed its hand around her throat before the blade had fully appeared.

" _Daphne!_ "

Rin had no choice but to reroute his attack at the demon with its grip on Daphne, but even as he did, she brought Castor up with a powerful whirl and sliced it through the elbow of the arm that held her. The demon fell back shrieking, but the claw did not loosen its grip. It clung onto Daphne's throat, the whole arm weighing her down, and again Rin moved to help her, and again she beat him to it, pulling the claw free and leaving deep scratch marks in her neck. She cut off what remained of the goat head and straight through to the snake on the same swing, then ran it through the heart.

Two more semicapers appeared.

Rin was momentarily distracted watching the blood run down Daphne's throat and stain the white fabric of her shirt, but then he snapped to, and they both made a move at the nearest semicaper. They both went for the sleeping goat, then the sentient goat, then the snake, and Daphne only just managed to beat him to the heart because he hesitated, aiming initially at the left side of its chest again by instinct. Then she stumbled, gasping a little and making the blood flow down her throat even more.

It was about that time that another team of exorcists arrived.

"In here!" Rin called, blocking a semicaper swipe at his tail, and they came into the room, doing a quick assessment and then taking over the rest of the exorcism. Rin reached after Daphne and followed her out when she moved without him, getting a little of her blood on his shoes as he walked through what had dripped to the floor.

Outside the restaurant was a bustle of Arias and Doctors, treating temptaints and securing Ishinohana in a barrier. Rin and Daphne moved quickly into the care of a Doctor who waved them over, sitting Daphne down at her station and going to work on the scratches right away. Rin released a breath through his nose. She'd be okay.

"Why did you do that?" he asked.

"Do what?" Daphne rasped as the Doctor pressed a sheet of gauze to her throat.

"Why didn't you trust me to back you up in there?"

"I didn't need back up."

"Yes you did, look at your injuries!"

" _I'm_ the one that got hurt, Rin."

"Shut up, that's not the point."

"Did you just tell me to shut up?"

He threw his hands out. "That's not the point, Daph! You can't _do_ that. You can't decide not to let people help you."

"I'm an adult, Rin. I can make decisions for myself and accept the consequences."

"Like the decision you made that got your team killed?"

He shouldn't have said it. If he'd known he was going to, he would have bitten his tongue the same instant, but he hadn't known, and the words were out, and Daphne just stared at him. Her face was pale.

"What?" she said, quiet, not angry, just hurt.

"Oh my god, Daphne, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to say that, I—"

She turned her gaze from him. Her eyes were blank and her face went paler than before, making the red bleeding through the cloth on her throat look even redder.

"Get away from me, Rin," she whispered.

"Daphne—"

"GET AWAY FROM ME, RIN!"

She flew to her feet, knocking over the Doctor's stand of supplies, sending bottles and herbs and silver tools clattering all over the concrete. Her hands were shaking and she glared at him with so much venom in her eyes, moving herself when Rin didn't, storming away, the Doctor shouting after her to stop. Rin started to follow, but someone caught his wrist.

When he looked back, Shura was standing there. She shook her head.

"Don't," was all she said.


	24. Part 24

Daphne couldn't stop the tears this time. They came wracking through her chest and stuttering over her breath even as she ran. She kept running. She didn't look back. At the edges of her vision, creeping black clouds of coltars buzzed over the walls of her house in Salem. She was running down the hall, her feet pounding over the floor boards, making them squeal and creak while her mother chased her, screaming that the coltars weren't real. Then the floorboards turned to marble and the walls became pews and she looked up at the stained glass of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, but then she was in Basic Training, then the grass beneath her feet turned to sand, then to stone, then to sand as the deserts of Egypt, then Iran, then Afghanistan whirled around her. She ran to the top of a dune, and a swirling dark cloud rose out of the valley in front of her and colored the whole sky black.

When she came to, Daphne was in her room, but she hadn't quite made it to the bed. She was sprawled across the floor instead, her face smashed into the carpet. Sitting up, her head swam. Colors danced across her eyes. Then she remembered why she was there and it set her sobbing all over again. Stupid. So, so stupid. Stupid to think that there was finally someone who understood her. Someone who didn't want to cause her pain.

Hours passed—hours of burying her face in a pillow or squinting at the hallucination of Hunter's body lying slumped against her wall until it disappeared or became Rhoda or Adri or Faisal. She cried until she couldn't cry anymore and her mouth was dry. Getting up, Daphne went into the kitchen for some water.

Her blades and her bag and its contents were all over the floor. She shivered, noticing for the first time how empty her neck and shoulders felt, but she didn't pick up Castor or Pollux or Helen of Troy. She didn't even touch them. Getting on her hands and knees, she started collecting the stuff that went in her bag and replacing it. Her phone had slid partway under the fridge. She picked it up.

Eight missed calls, all of them Rin. She was about to unlock her phone to dismiss the notifications when it started to ring again. His name was the one on the screen.

Daphne switched the ringer to silent.

* * *

"She's still not answering."

Rin looked helplessly up from his phone at Yukio who sat next to him on the couch.

"It's late. She's probably in bed," Yukio said.

Maybe she was in bed _now_ , but Rin had been calling for the last four hours and she hadn't answered any of those times either. He felt like throwing up.

"Should I go over there?"

"If she's not answering your calls, she probably doesn't want to see you."

Rin glared at his brother. "Thanks for that."

Yukio shrugged. "I'm just saying. Maybe it's better if you leave her alone this time. Shura seemed to think so."

After she'd stopped him from following Daphne away from Ishinohana, Shura had had to restrain Rin from going after her multiple times. After every time he'd called Daphne and Daphne hadn't answered as a matter of fact. Shura had dumped Rin at home eventually because she was tired of dealing with him, so now it was Yukio's job to talk him down.

"And she's probably right," he added.

"Since when are you on team Shura?" Rin grumbled. He clicked the little phone icon next to Daphne's name on the screen and put it back to his ear to listen to it ring.

"If she wanted to talk, she'd answer."

"What if she's hurt?"

"I seriously doubt there's much out there Daphne Lux couldn't handle."

"She's _already_ hurt, though."

Those scratches on her neck… Just thinking about them gave Rin the willies, making his stomach turn over. The line continued to ring. Ring, ring, ring, click.

"This is Daphne. Leave me a message and…"

"Damn it!"

Rin punched the hang up button and only just managed to keep himself from throwing his phone at the ground.

"Just give her some space," Yukio suggested. "You'll see her at school tomorrow."

Rin went to bed worried and didn't really sleep. While he was getting ready the next morning, he checked his phone incessantly in case he hadn't heard it buzz or ring, but there wasn't anything. Except for a text from Mephisto with a picture of his breakfast and a couple of heart emojis, but Rin ignored that one. He went straight to Daphne's classroom as soon as he got to campus. A substitute was writing his name on the board.

"Shit."

The sub looked over, then scowled at him. "Are you a student?" he asked.

"Do I _look_ like a student?"

The substitute was about to retort, when a couple of actual students showed up. One of them was Katsumi.

"Okumura-sensei!" he said, smiling and coming to a stop in front of Rin. "Good morning."

"I didn't know you were one of Daphne's regular students," Rin said.

"I am now. They transferred me into her English class."

Rin nodded. Daphne and/or Mephisto had probably requested that, given that Katsumi was going to be one of Daphne's blade bonding students as well and the more familiar they were with each other the better.

"This _is_ her classroom, right?"

Again, Rin nodded. "Yeah."

"Where is she?"

He shook his head. "I'm not sure."

Other students were filing in, then the five minute bell rang and Rin didn't really have the option to stay. The sub wouldn't have had any information and Rin had classes to teach himself. He called Daphne again on his way to his classroom, and again he got her voicemail.

"This is Daphne. Leave me a message and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you." Beep.

"Hey, Daph. It's me again. Listen, I…I just want to make sure you're okay. _Please_ call me back. I'll try again at lunch. See you."

But she didn't pick up at lunch either. And she didn't pick up after school, or after cram school, or when Rin called to tell her he was on his way over to her house. It was just starting to get dark by the time he got there. All her lights were off, even the one on the landing. He knocked anyway, listened carefully at the door for any sounds of life.

There was nothing, but he got the feeling Daphne was home.

"Daph," he called. "It's me."

Still nothing. He knocked again.

"Daph?"

The handle was locked when he tried it, no surprises there. Rin sighed.

"I don't know if you listened to my messages, but I'm sorry," he said to the door. "I didn't mean what I said, Daph, I was just flustered and…frustrated, I guess. I was— _am_ worried about you, and I guess I felt like I could have done something… It was stupid. I'm sorry."

He looked up at the window next to her door with its blinds shut. Inside the apartment, the air conditioner kicked on and they shifted a little in the sudden air stream. If she was going to answer, she would have by now, and if she was going to make noise he probably wouldn't be able to hear it over the AC. He stood at the door for another few minutes all the same.

"I'll try again tomorrow," he said.


	25. Part 25

Saturday morning, it was Mephisto and not Daphne who was waiting in the practice ring when Rin, Shura, Katsumi, Hiriko, and the others showed up for their first official blade bonding lesson. Rin might have been surprised if he hadn't already spent the last two days trying to get ahold of her and failing miserably. All the same, it wasn't exactly comforting to see Mephisto, either.

The dude didn't make excuses for Daphne, or say where she was. He just informed them that classes would continue as scheduled after the hiccup of today and instructed Rin and everyone else to take turns working with the exwires for the next two hours to help get them up to speed. Then he summoned his chair and plopped down in it to watch. Rin made sure somebody else was going to handle the exwires before stepping over to Mephisto.

"You talked to Daphne?" he asked.

Mephisto just looked up at him, somehow holding a steaming cup of tea now. "Hm?"

"Daphne. You talked to her?"

"Oh. Hardly. She sent me a rather scathing message requesting, nay, _demanding_ some time off. She threatened to quit altogether if I didn't comply, so I chose the lesser of two evils and acquiesced." He sniffed, then sipped his tea.

"Did she say why?"

"Why what?"

"Why she wanted time off?"

Rin was hoping if Daphne _had_ told Mephisto anything, that it wouldn't have included any tidbits about himself. And that she might have given the demon king an indication of where she was or what she was up to. Mephisto sensed that Rin was fishing. He narrowed one of his eyes.

"As a matter of fact, yes."

Rin waited for more. Mephisto just smiled, keeping quiet until Rin started to squirm.

"She said she was going to Boston."

Rin's jaw practically unhinged. "She _what?_ "

"She said she was going to Boston?" Mephisto repeated, but Rin was already halfway out the door.

* * *

The second he made it home, Rin threw a bunch of clothes and shit into a backpack and ran to the train station. He anxiously tapped his toes and chewed on the inside of his bottom lip waiting for the one that would take him out of Academy Town to the airport. The second the doors opened at the airport station, he bolted from the train, up the stairs onto the street, and across the street into the airport terminal. Of course the lines to talk to the employees behind the desks were hellishly long because it was a Saturday morning. He almost went insane weaving back and forth between the dividers until it was his turn.

"How can I help you?" the attendant said, smiling pleasantly.

"Hi, yeah, um, I need to get on the soonest flight you have to Boston?"

"You'll be purchasing a ticket today?"

"Yes."

The guy nodded and clicked away on his keyboard, his eyes flicking over a computer screen Rin couldn't see. What if there weren't any flights leaving for Boston today? What if there were and they were all full? Shit. He should have checked before coming all the way out here… Rin drummed his fingers against the counter.

"It looks like we have two flights to Boston departing today. One direct flight in an hour, another with one connection at five forty-five."

Rin practically fell over letting out a sigh of relief. "Great."

"There are a few seats available on both." The attendant kept typing as he talked, then flicked his eyes up to Rin. "Which would you prefer?"

"The sooner one."

"All right. We'll have to rush you through security."

"That's fine, this is all I've got." Rin gestured to his backpack, then remembered Kurikara. "Oh. And this."

The attendant raised an eyebrow at the sword. "You'll have to check that," he said.

"That's fine."

An hour. An hour and Rin would be on a plane on his way to Daphne and everything would be fine. He passed Kurikara across the counter to the attendant while the guy typed away, asking Rin's name, address, to see his passport, all that stuff that he needed to know to book him a flight. Eventually he looked up and smiled.

"Your total comes out to 198,555 yen."

Rin tried not to think too hard about that number as he passed over his credit card.

* * *

Stained glass was never as impressive at night.

Daphne was sitting in the backmost pew of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, watching as the lights of cars passing on the street outside temporarily illuminated some of the bottom windows. Temporary light. Temporary colors.

Her gaze turned toward the altar, the distant sculpture that sat at the back of it barely distinguishable. She could just make out the figure of Christ at the bottom, the crucifix near the top. Two angels on either side of the crucifix. The rest of it was just a white almost-triangle. Overhead, a few more lights flicked off.

The cathedral was officially closed to visitors. She'd been inside it all day, and sitting in the pews for the last four hours, watching patrons, pretending to pray. She didn't know if she believed in God anymore, if she ever had, but this place still felt like home to her. A refuge from the outside storm.

A single set of footsteps echoed across the stone floor near the altar. A door closed, then Father Michael appeared. She'd called him two days ago, told him she was coming, asked him if she could stay at his place and he'd responded, "What's your flight number? When do you get in?" and had been there at the airport to pick her up.

He was young still, only fifty-three, just starting to go gray, though it was nearly impossible to tell since his hair was such a light shade of blond. He was large, and boxy, with a flat nose and kind eyes. Daphne hadn't realized how much she'd missed him until she'd seen him standing in the waiting area at the airport and she'd promptly started sobbing. It had been three years since they'd been together last, and six years before that. Father Michael grinned as he approached her.

"You ready to go, kiddo?"

Daphne nodded, standing up.

He took a half step, Daphne fell into place beside him, and they headed out of the cathedral together. Father Michael locked the door behind them.

"That Purge help at all?" he asked, glancing back at Daphne over his shoulder.

She nodded, bundling her arms against her chest in the chill night air. Father Michael had performed the Purge that morning. It was an old Puritan custom, one Daphne had endured several times in the past—a cleansing of negative energies from the soul. Castor, Pollux, and Helen of Troy were undergoing the same process, in a vault under the cathedral at that very moment. She could feel the effects of the Purge fighting to warm her spirit.

"It's still working its way through," she replied.

"Good."

"Yeah."

"You hungry?"

"Yeah."

Daphne started to walk away, but Father Michael didn't follow. She stopped, turned, and looked back at him, still standing at the door.

"You've got to learn to let other people help you bear your burdens, kiddo," he said. "You can't go running across the globe every time it gets this bad."

Biting her lip, Daphne looked at her feet. She was a runner. She was stubborn. She held onto things like they were glued to her. She knew all this. But knowing didn't make it manageable. The last two days were evidence enough of that: training, sparring, cleaning out the mountains of gunk that occupied her heart and mind. She'd spent nearly fourteen hours a day in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, trying to drink in its light, let it heal her, and she was a long ways from that yet. Perhaps things more painful than the Purge would need to be used.

"I'm trying," she replied.

Father Michael strode forward, hooked one of his arms around her shoulders and pulled her in at his side.

"Good girl," he said. "Let's eat."


	26. Part 26

"Wait. _Where_ are you?"

"Boston. Jeez, Yukio, would you pay attention?"

"What in god's name are you doing in _Boston?_ "

Rin massaged the bridge of his nose. Being stuck at the stupid airport, that's what he was doing. He'd had to wait for Kurikara to pass a security check, then his phone had died, and now he was tied to a wall outlet while it charged and wouldn't have been able to call Yukio if he _had_ left because the airport was the only place he was sure would have free wifi. Thankfully plugs were the same in America.

He had no idea where he was or where he should have been headed, hadn't really slept on the plane, travelling for the last thirteen hours, only to arrive in Boston and have it be the nearly the same time the same day he had left. Something about crossing the International Date Line but most of the explanation another passenger on the flight had given him had gone right over his head.

"I'm looking for Daphne. Now will you just google all the churches around here?"

It was the third time Rin had asked him to do that since he'd picked up the phone. He hadn't realized how terrible his English actually was until he'd gotten off the plane and suddenly everyone around him was garbling away in it and he couldn't read any of the airport signs and every time he thought maybe he might ask someone for help or directions, any semblance of a vocabulary he might have had went fluttering away completely and he just ended up gawping at them. He couldn't quite figure the Internet out either.

"Why do you need me to do it?" Yukio asked.

"It keeps giving me the American Google…"

"You can still use that."

" _Would you just do me a favor and look it up?_ "

"Okay, okay! Sheesh. Give me a second…"

"Thank you."

On the other end of the line, Rin could hear Yukio shuffling to get out of bed. What time was it there? Like one AM? No wonder Yukio sounded so irritated. No wonder Rin felt so exhausted. He really hadn't thought this through.

Yukio sighed. "I'm at the computer. Do you want to know _all_ the churches in Boston?"

"Nah, just the big ones with connections to the Knights of the True Cross."

"Okay…"

Yukio started typing—Rin could hear the _click, click, click_. Some girl came and sat down on the floor next to him and asked something in English. Rin just stared at her until she pointed at the wall outlet and held up the end of her own phone charger, raising her eyebrows. Rin nodded, giving her a thumbs up.

" _Thank you_ ," she said, or at least that's what he _thought_ she said. Rin just smiled awkwardly as she plugged her phone in.

"There was another semicaper attack this afternoon." Yukio said.

Rin tensed. "Shit. What form? How many?"

"Maybe twenty in their third form. A couple of our Senior Exorcists got burned pretty bad."

" _Shit._ "

"Yeah."

"Are they okay?"

"Should be. Nothing's certain yet. Okay, I've got a list of churches…"

"Great."

The sooner Rin patched things up with Daphne and the two of them were on a plane back to Japan the better.

Yukio read the list off and the two of them collectively decided the Cathedral of the Holy Cross was their best bet. It was the biggest thing in the area and pretty close to the airport. Rin seemed to remember Daphne having mentioned a church that had a similar, if not the same, name at some point, and even if it wasn't the one, no doubt somebody there would be able to point him in the right direction.

"You should be able to get there pretty easy on the bus."

"Thanks, Yukio."

"Sure. Anything else?"

"No. I think I'm good."

"Okay. I'm going back to bed."

"Okay. Thank you."

"Be careful, you lunatic."

"I will."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Rin hung up and then sighed, just looking at his phone in his hands for a second. What if Daphne wasn't in Massachusetts anymore? What if the people at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross had never heard of her, assuming he could even get himself there? What if Mephisto was wrong and Daphne hadn't ever been here in the first place and was actually just holed up in her apartment in Academy Town? He'd probably end up lost and wandering around Boston until he found someone who spoke Japanese, which seemed unlikely, and as soon as he left the airport he wouldn't have wifi anymore. Rin sighed again. He was such an idiot.

" _Rough day?_ "

The girl who had sat down next to him smiled when he looked at her.

"What?" he said.

She laughed an awkward laugh, like she was surprised and a little embarrassed. " _Hard day?_ " She spoke a little slower the second time.

"Oh." Rin nodded. "Um… _yes._ "

He knew "yes." And "no." And "where is the bathroom," but none of that was going to be particularly helpful for finding Daphne.

" _Do you need help with something?_ "

"What?"

" _Help. Can I help you?_ "

He recognized one of those words. Help? Was that what she'd said? The girl started to squirm a little and it was then Rin realized he'd been staring right at her face as he'd tried to figure out what she was saying.

"Oh! Shit. Sorry, um, _sorry_. _Yes. Please._ Um… _directions?_ "

She perked up. Contact. " _Yeah. Where do you want to go?_ "

It took Rin a second to puzzle the question together, then he asked if she could tell him how to get to the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on public transit.

" _Sure._ "

She opened the map app on her phone, typed something into the address bar, and pulled up the cathedral just like that. She offered the phone to Rin so he could look.

" _You're gonna get on the SL1 right outside Terminal E, then switch to the SL4 at Boston South Station. It should only take, like, thirty minutes._ "

Rin squinted at the route, trying to memorize it.

" _Just get off when you see the cathedral_."

He nodded. " _Thank you._ "

" _Sure. Does that make sense?_ "

He hadn't the slightest idea what she'd said, so he just smiled and nodded, and the next second his phone finished charging, so he thanked her again and took a picture of her screen and the map, picked up his backpack, and hurried off in the direction he assumed Terminal E must be in. Daphne was close. He could feel it.

* * *

Underneath the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, unknown to most of the public and out of their view, was another nave, transept, and chancel, another cathedral almost, and underneath that was a series of rooms and stairs and storage, all for the use of the Knights of the True Cross. Daphne had only just lately collected Castor, Pollux, and Helen of Troy out of one of the cleansing chambers that afternoon. It had been days since she'd touched them.

They felt different now. Cleaner, maybe. Lighter. She was feeling a little lighter herself. A little more level-headed. She touched the tip of Castor to the floor, secured it, then lifted herself into a handstand. Still now, Daphne closed her eyes.

Father Michael was right. She _couldn't_ go running halfway around the world every time she reached a breaking point. She'd done it twice already in the last year—once to Japan and now back. She needed to figure out a better way to deal with things.

The last few days had helped. Being away from her life at True Cross, being home at Holy Cross. The Purge had come on strong after dinner the night before. After a lot of throwing up and sweating and feeling like hell, her head felt clearer now than it had in years.

Coming out of the handstand, she summoned Pollux and began a series, preparing to reconnect with her blades—all of them, including herself, cleansed.

* * *

Three hours later, after getting off the bus at the wrong stop, incredibly tired, hungry, and irritated, Rin finally found the stupid cathedral. He had no idea how he'd managed to wander in circles around it for so long without seeing it—the thing was freaking huge—but he had, and now it was after three o'clock and he kind of wanted to punch the next person who assumed he could speak English in the mouth. So when he got excited and tried to go up to the doors and received a nice little anti-demon shock for his troubles when he stepped through the break in the fence, it pissed him off way more than it should have.

"Shit, shit, _shit!_ "

Stumbling backwards, Rin got away from the gate as fast as he could. He continued to throw swear words at the fence until a priest opened up the front door and shouted at him from the steps.

" _Hey! Demon! Move along or I'll come out there and exorcise you._ "

Rin threw his hands up. "I don't speak mother freaking English! I have no idea what you're saying, all right?! Jesus, would you people knock it off with the privilege already? I get it. I'm an idiot. I read you loud and clear!"

He had more to say, but someone started laughing and the sound of it caught Rin off-guard, so he looked at the dude standing on the steps who was chuckling and shaking his head.

" _Well I'll be damned,_ " he said.

* * *

Speed, good. Connection, good. Heart, still a little uneasy but getting there. Daphne could feel the strength of the remaining Purge increasing as she spun Castor and Pollux through the air, turning in a tight circle. She started to hum, a Puritan hymn she'd been taught when she had first received her blades: "Awake, My Soul, Stretch Every Nerve." The lyrics were inscribed on Helen of Troy.

She almost didn't hear Father Michael when he said her name.

"Daphne."

She stopped, turning around to see what it was that he wanted, but he wasn't alone. That was—

" _Rin?_ "

Castor and Pollux fell from her hands.


	27. Part 27

Daphne couldn't believe what she was seeing. Rin was _here?_ He looked both sheepish and uncomfortable, shifting back and forth next to Father Michael, like a schoolboy waiting for a reprimand.

Father Michael chuckled. "Figured this might be him. Probably only one human-looking demon who would show up on our doorstep shouting in Japanese."

Daphne came forward, her mouth open. He was the absolute _last_ person she had expected to see. "Rin, what are you _doing_ here?"

"I came to find you," he said to his feet.

"It's _seven thousand miles_."

He just shrugged. He _shrugged_. Daphne's heart was beating hard and fast, making her breath come deep.

"Rin."

That was all she could say.

"You told me you wanted me to stick with you, Daph," he said. "Help you through things. I didn't meant to make it worse. I shouldn't have said what I said, and I'm sorry."

" _Rin_."

She was shocked. Seeing him here—she didn't know what to make of it. A flash of the memory of a few nights ago at Ishinohana raced across her mind. What he'd said. How she'd reacted. The fit it had sent her into. But that wasn't Rin's fault. Not really. It wasn't anybody's fault. It was just psychology, and the poor way she'd adapted to dealing with it. Her head was clear enough now to see that.

Rin had come all the way around the world to apologize.

Daphne laughed. She couldn't help it. In another second she'd crossed the distance between them and thrown her arms around his neck. She hugged him harder than she'd ever hugged a human being in her entire life.

She'd gone running to the other side of the world and he'd _followed_ her.

Pulling back, she looked into his stupid, idiot face and those big blue eyes. Only Rin. She couldn't help smiling, or the tears that pricked her eyes, or kissing him when it came down to it. She pressed her mouth to his fervently, determined, not realizing until that moment how much she had missed him.

How much she loved him.

Daphne's heart stopped. She nearly stopped kissing him, too, but goddamn it, she was in love with him and she didn't want to. How terrifying was that? Her certainty scared her, but only because she didn't understand it. Just like she didn't understand how someone she had treated the way she'd treated Rin could still care about her the way that he did. She would have given up on herself a long time ago.

But here he was.

* * *

It was worth every bit of the two hundred thousand yen for a reception like that. Rin had run through a million different scenarios on the flight, what he might say or what Daphne might do if and when he found her. He hadn't even given himself the luxury of thinking that she might be happy to see him. He honestly hadn't thought it was possible.

But here she was.

"I'm sorry," Daphne said when she pulled back. "I should have told you I was going…"

"Yeah."

"I should have trusted you to back me up."

"Yeah."

"My god, I don't know how you can stand me."

"Because," he almost said, "I love you."

 _I love you, I love you, I love you_. The words were there. They were _right there_ on his tongue, right on the tip, but he didn't say them. He couldn't, so he said something else: "It was my fault this time."

Daphne shook her head. "No. You were right."

"Don't say that, Daph…"  
"No, it's true. You're right. I don't trust anyone other than myself. It isn't safe. It isn't okay, and I can't do that anymore."

Rin looked at her. She was different now. Something had changed while she'd been away from him and he didn't know what it was, but it had lifted a little of the shadows from her face, changed that spark of fear that usually flickered in her eyes to something more like determination.

"I needed to hit the reset button, Rin," she said. "I've done that now. I'm ready."

There was something about her that he just couldn't explain. Something deep in the depths of all the things that made her who she was that Rin was drawn to. From the very beginning, from the moment she'd stepped onto that train in Academy Town, he'd been drawn to her. He didn't know why. But she could go running around the world every day until it stopped turning and he would go with her every step of the way.


	28. Part 28

Father Michael apparently insisted that Rin come and stay at his place instead of finding a hotel, but Rin had absolutely no idea what the guy had actually said and only had Daphne's word to go on. All the same, he _had_ looked pretty insistent, lots of head shaking and head nodding and translating back and forth between Daphne until it had eventually been decided that it would be better and cheaper for everyone if Rin just crashed there. That's what Daphne was doing and that way they would all be together and Father Michael could observe Daphne's aura's link to Rin's flames. Apparently she'd told him about that, and apparently he was some kind of exorcist expert on human connections to Gehenna.

The three of them had to hang around the cathedral the rest of the day, or rather, _Rin_ had to hang around and wait for Father Michael and Daphne. She told him something about a purge and that it worked faster on holy ground, and whatever was going to help her most, Rin was happy to do. So he sat and watched her work with Father Michael in that chapel under the chapel.

The guy was a lot younger than Rin had been thinking. He didn't know why, but whenever someone talked about a priest he just assumed it was some ancient old dude with a long, white beard and a craggy face. Father Michael was the opposite. Thick arms, thick legs, thick neck. He just oozed American military, right down to his close-cropped haircut. He looked a lot nicer than Rin would have imagined a hardened war veteran might, but that was probably the priest bleeding through.

It was spooky to see how similar his and Daphne's techniques were. Then again, he _had_ trained her. It looked to Rin like Daphne was sparring with her mirror image. Eventually, just as Rin was starting to fall asleep, they stopped and another priest came down and said something to Father Michael which sparked a conversation between the two priests and Daphne. Rin caught, "time," and "leave," and "stay," but that was pretty much it.

A moment later Daphne was shaking him awake.

"Are you hungry?" she asked, smiling.

Per the usual, Rin was starving, but he could only manage to nod his head groggily. It must have been somewhere in the early hours of the next morning according to his body clock, and he hadn't slept all night. The prospect of food perked him up, though.

Father Michael led the way out of the cathedral, then down the street to the bus stop. He kept giving Rin these grinning sideways glances, but Rin was too tired and hungry to do anything about it until Daphne handed him a granola bar from her bag midway through the bus ride and he had a few calories to burn.

"Why does this guy keep looking at me like that?" he asked, gesturing at Father Michael with said granola bar.

The three of them were standing on the full evening bus and Rin nearly toppled over when they went around the next turn.

"I talked about you a lot," Daphne replied.

"Okay, well, tell him it's creeping me out…"

" _What did he say?_ " Father Michael asked.

" _He's complaining because you keep looking at him,_ " Daphne said.

The priest laughed. " _Good. I want to make him squirm._ "

Daphne rolled her eyes and wouldn't tell Rin what Father Michael had said when he asked.

Once they got off the bus it was a short walk to the apartment building and up a couple of flights of stairs to Father Michael's digs. The apartment was cozy—wood floors covered in rugs, plants, and poofy leather furniture. The front door opened into a short hallway that lead to a kitchen attached to the living room. The shelves that surrounded the television and lined the wall from floor to ceiling were crammed full of books and papers, and so was the den Rin could see through an open door off the living room. There was a twin air mattress in there, and Daphne's stuff, and an electric guitar on a stand.

Rin took his shoes off and tucked them next to the door.

" _We'll put him on the sofa bed,_ " Father Michael said. " _I'll go change and we can get started on dinner._ "

Daphne nodded and Father Michael headed up the stairs by the door. Then she looked at Rin and smiled, reaching over to take his hand and draw him toward her.

"Thank you for coming," she said.

" _Make yourself at home, Rin!_ " Father Michael called from upstairs, but Rin only caught his name and "home".

"What did he say?"

"He said to make yourself at home," Daphne replied. Giving him a peck on the cheek, she let go of his hand and moved toward the den. "I'm going to change, too. You can put your backpack wherever."

Rin lingered for a second in the hallway until Daphne had closed the door to the den, then he wandered in, looking at all the stuff that covered the walls—Army uniforms and pictures of people wearing the same uniforms, a couple of mounted cavalry swords, paintings of various American landscapes, a macramé owl and other weird knick-knacks from the 70s. As he set his backpack down next to a couch that was covered with afghans, he noticed an enormous standing record player against one of the walls. Daphne came out of the den as he moved toward it, tying her hair into a knot to hold it back. Rin pointed at the record player.

"Does this work?"

"Of course it works," she laughed. "What would be the point of having a record player that didn't work?"

"I don't know… Aesthetic?"

Shaking her head, Daphne came over and switched the machine on. A soft static crackle from the speakers fizzed into the air.

"I can guarantee you Father Michael is not concerned about his aesthetic." She leaned against the record player and looked at Rin expectantly. "Pick something out."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. He has a great collection."

Bending over, Rin started flipping through the records that were stored in the cabinet on the player between the speakers. There were several more crates full of them piled next to the player as well. After a moment's looking he came across one that he was pretty sure said Van Halen across the top with what was apparently a cherub or something smoking a pack of cigarettes. It had to have been some of the strangest album artwork Rin had ever seen, but he knew Daphne liked Van Halen, so he passed it up to her.

"Oo, good one," she said, slipping the record out of its sleeve, setting it delicately on the turn table, then lifting the needle and placing that onto the record as well once it started to spin. There was a crackle, and a second later, music apparently, though it sounded to Rin like some 1980s outer space theme—warpy keyboards and electric guitar.

Father Michael reappeared at the bottom of the stairs, now in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He sent a grin Rin and Daphne's way. " _Great choice._ "

Rin glanced at Daphne. "Are priests allowed to listen to rock music?"

"He's mostly a priest by default, and even if there _were_ rules, he wouldn't follow them."

Father Michael had gone into the kitchen just as the record started to sound like actual music and began digging through the fridge, looking for ingredients for dinner probably. Suddenly Rin felt incredibly guilty. He'd shown up out of nowhere and become an extra mouth to feed and body to house, and Father Michael had already been feeding and housing Daphne, who had _also_ shown up out of nowhere, for the past couple of days. The least he could do was help with the meal.

"How about I do dinner?" he said to Daphne, already going into the kitchen.

Daphne relayed the message to Father Michael.

" _Oh, no. That's all right,_ " Father Michael replied, shaking his head and scooting Rin out of the way _._ " _It's no problem_."

Rin didn't know what he'd said, but he wasn't going to take no for an answer. "I'm cooking," he said affirmatively and started opening cupboards to find the supplies he'd need. "He's letting me say here for free, so it's the least I can do."

Father Michael looked at Daphne for help while Rin pulled things out of the pantry.

" _He's a great cook_ ," Daphne said.

Father Michael eyed him. " _Are you sure?_ "

Daphne laughed. " _Yes, just let him do it. He'll go crazy if you don't. He doesn't like owing people_."

They were talking about him, Rin knew it. He set down the frying pan he'd discovered and narrowed his eyes.

"What?" Daphne laughed.

"What did you say about me?"

"Nothing." She looked at Father Michael. " _He'll do it anyways, even if you tell him no.._."

Rin was already pulling eggs out of the refrigerator and more stuff out of the cupboards, so Father Michael yielded and moved to join Daphne who had taken a seat at the counter. Rin started some rice to boil.

"What are you going to make?" Daphne asked.

"Omurice, I think," he replied.

And he did, frying up rice with chicken and omelets while Van Halen played in the background. Daphne set the table and the record ended just as Rin was finishing up the makeshift sauce he'd thrown together with what he could find in Father Michael's pantry. The priest actually looked impressed when he cut open his omelet and it fell over his rice, perfectly runny, even more so when he tasted it.

" _You can keep this one around, Daphne_ ," he said.

After dinner, the Americans wouldn't let Rin help with the dishes, so he sat on the couch instead. The thing was ridiculously comfortable, especially nestled into an afghan. Full, and really damn exhausted, Rin promptly fell asleep.

* * *

"Man, he just drops right into it, doesn't he?" Father Michael chuckled.

Daphne stood up on her toes to look across the kitchen into the living room at Rin who was already snoring on the couch, his head dropped back and his mouth wide open. She smiled.

"It's a gift," she replied.

"Hard to believe he's the son of Satan."

She glanced at Father Michael and he was already looking at her. He finished rinsing off the dish he had in his hands and held it out. Saying nothing, Daphne took it and placed it in the dishwasher.

"That wasn't a slam, kiddo. Just an observation. He seems like a good guy."

"But he _is_ half demon."

Father Michael was quiet, then, "If you choose him, there won't be any escaping Gehenna."

Daphne sighed. "There's no 'if', Michael," she said. "I've already chosen him. I've never been more sure about anything in my entire life."

"The demon thing doesn't bother you?" He was genuinely curious, nurturing. He wasn't seeking to steer Daphne one direction or another, just to understand what she was thinking.

"I spent years trying to outrun my demons without making any progress," she replied. "I think it's time I let them into my life on my own terms."

Chuckling and shaking his head, Father Michael smiled at the dishes still in the sink.

"What?" Daphne asked.

"Seeing that kid has done more for your mental state than three days under a Puritan Purge," he answered. "I think you've got yourself a winner."

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _Hello, Phab here! For those of you who are interested, I thought I'd strike preemptively and let you know that the album they listen to is_ 1984 _by Van Halen. And according to a guy in a record shop in Arcata, California, "One of the greatest albums of all time." Worth a listen if you like classic rock._


	29. Part 29

Daphne was already up the following morning, browsing the paper and sitting at the counter with a cup of coffee when Father Michael came carefully down the stairs.

"Good morning," he whispered.

"Oh, you don't have to be quiet," Daphne replied at full volume. "When he's out, he's out."

Rin was still asleep on the couch, tangled in two afghans in spite of the fact that it was warm out. Daphne had been awake for the past two hours, gone for a jog, brewed the coffee, even put away the dishes away, and Rin hadn't stirred in the slightest.

"Busy day plus jetlag, I suppose," Father Michael chuckled. He came into the kitchen and poured himself some coffee.

"Honestly, he just likes to sleep."

Father Michael smiled around the rim of his mug. "I'd like to see this halo of yours today since it's the last we'll be together, if the two of you don't mind?"

"I don't," Daphne replied. "Rin's kind of particular about how he uses the blue flame, but I think he'll be willing to show you. He's just as curious as I am."

"How long until he's up, you think?"

"I can wake him whenever you want. Otherwise he'll probably sleep until the afternoon."

Father Michael nodded. "Give him as long as you like. I'll meet you at the cathedral."

* * *

Rin was asleep in his bed at his house in Academy Town, but then someone was shaking him awake, and he was not in his bed, but on a couch, a couch in some kind of crazed apartment, and the person doing the shaking was Daphne and Rin panicked for a second until he remembered what had happened yesterday. He knew where he was. He was in Boston. What a crazy twenty-four hours.

"There's cereal and stuff for breakfast, or we can grab something on the way to the cathedral," Daphne said.

Apparently there was a trend with Daphne waking him up and then talking to him about food. She knew him so well.

Even so, Rin wasn't quite functional until after breakfast, and it wasn't until they were already on the bus and halfway to Holy Cross that it occurred to him that it was Sunday.

"Won't the cathedral be super busy?"

"Of course, but we won't be doing anything on the ground level," Daphne replied.

In fact, they didn't even go through the front door. Instead, Daphne showed him around the back of the building to a small side door that opened onto a staircase. They descended, winding their way to the basement and that cathedral-under-a-cathedral. It was still busy, full now with various Knights of the True Cross, all of them dressed as priests or in army uniforms.

"Is everybody a soldier?" Rin asked as they moved through the crowd in the chapel toward an archway with another staircase.

"Well it _is_ a branch of the United States' military," Daphne replied.

She descended the stairs and Rin followed, weaving through a ridiculous labyrinth of hallways and more staircases going deeper and deeper underground and further and further out until Daphne came to a nondescript door in the middle of a hallway and knocked. There was some shuffling on the other side, then Father Michael pulled open the door.

" _There you are_ ," he said and his voice echoed through the room behind him. Stepping aside, he let Rin and Daphne into an enormous sparring gym.

"Jesus, how big _is_ this place?" Rin had no idea how far underground they were now, but it felt pretty deep. How many rooms were on top of them? Underneath? Surrounding?

"Its true capacity is confidential," Daphne replied. "But it's big."

She shed her jacket and bag against the wall and stepped out into the center of the room, stretching. Rin followed suit, his eyes tracking the gothic lines in the high ceiling, the stonework of the walls. Pretty fancy for a dumb old gym.

Father Michael said something long and complicated in English.

Daphne looked to Rin. "He wants us to spar so he can see the halo and all that."

"Oh." Rin nodded. "Am I okay to use the blue flame in here?"

"Should be."

Grinning, Father Michael rubbed his hands together. " _Let's get to it_."

* * *

Four hours later, Rin could barely breathe. Daphne wasn't looking any better. Both of them were sweating into their eyes and absolutely exhausted. They'd tried and tried to work up to that energy level they'd had that first time they'd sparred—where they could both see those predictive shadows that let the other know where they were going—but no luck. Daphne still had an aura, and Rin's flames still became easier to control, but it was nothing like that first match.

Four hours, and they weren't even close.

" _Let's take a break_."

Daphne collapsed with an enormous sigh, lying back on the floor and drawing in one deep breath after another. Rin sheathed Kurikara and sat down to join her, stretching as he did. Daphne's eyes were closed and she seemed to be having a hard time getting enough air.

"You okay?"

She nodded, but didn't open her eyes. Reaching over, Rin took her hand, so Daphne laced their fingers together. Rin glanced at Father Michael who was perched on a chair in the corner, pouring over a notebook and scribbling more comments. Rin wanted to ask what he thought so far, but didn't have the words to do it.

" _Catch your breath,_ " Father Michael said, rising, but with his eyes glued to his notebook still. " _I'm going to go look something up, then we'll continue…_ " He left the room mumbling to himself.

"Do you think he'll be able to figure it out?" Rin asked, looking at Daphne.

"I hope so," she replied breathlessly. "He should at least be able to tell us _something_."

Father Michael was back only a few minutes later.

" _All right_ ," he said with a grin. " _Let's get cooking._ "

* * *

Daphne was really damn dizzy by the time they called it a day. The Purge had come on strong while she and Rin had sparred, finally working its way out during their last hour of exercise. It left her exhausted, and starving, and ready for a good long nap, but Father Michael got his notes out as soon as they were home.

"I've never observed anything like this," he said. "I don't think anyone has."

He sat Daphne at the table while Rin started dinner. There wasn't any point in having him listen now since Daphne would just have to relay it all back in Japanese either way.

"Do you know what's causing it?" she asked.

"Let's start with the facts first."

Going quiet, Daphne sat back in her chair.

"We're dealing with two separate, but similar entities here," he began, turning his notebook around and sliding it across the table to Daphne so she could see what he'd written and drawn. "The blue flame, and your rainbow halo. These are obviously reactive to each other. The flames become stronger and more precise in the presence of the halo, the halo more potent and visible. Both are activated when either you or Rin draw your swords."

Daphne blinked. "Wait, are you saying that the halo exists independent of Rin?"

"I suspect it has always been there," Father Michael replied. "You've had it since you've had your swords, or at the very least since you discovered blade bonding. It was just weak, and invisible. Contained behind a barrier, if you will. That first match of yours broke the barrier. The halo reacted with the flames and became what it is now."

"But we fought before," Daphne said. "Just the two of us."

"There must have been signs of it, then."

Daphne thought back to that match the day she'd shown up on Rin's doorstep, the day they'd made sukiyaki, the first time they'd kissed. At the time, she hadn't noticed anything in particular, but now that she was more familiar with the energy, looking back she could see in hindsight that it _had_ been there. Something in that second sparring match, probably the power with which both she and Rin had fought, had actually broken that barrier.

"From what I can guess, the spirit of the blades coupled with the temptaint from Morpheus created this new hybrid energy," Father Michael continued. "I think it's quite likely that the swords fed off the temptaint, changing their chemistry, and shielding you because of your connection to them through blade bonding."

"Damn."

"What?"

Daphne clicked her tongue. "I was hoping Mephisto wouldn't be right."

That was almost exactly what that sneaky demon king had guessed the answer was. It irritated Daphne more than it should have.

Rin finished dinner and the three of them ate, Daphne explaining all the things to Rin which Father Michael had just told her. He nodded, listening carefully, then asking questions.

"So why didn't it work today? The shadow thingy?"

"He thinks it has something to do with the Purge, our location, or our emotional state," Daphne replied after relaying the question through Father Michael.

"Like you weren't pissed off enough?"

She punched his shoulder.

"Ow! See? I bet it would work now."

She hit him again.

"Hey! Knock it off!"

Father Michael just chuckled, shaking his head. "A match made in hell."

Daphne sent a fiery glare his direction, but it only made him laugh again and put up his hands.

"Whatever is going on, my theories aside, the two of you have a lot of work to do when you get home."

Sighing, Daphne nodded. The only real way to learn more about her power, and how it worked with Rin's, was to use it.

"Thank you for your help, Michael," she said.

He nodded. "Keep me updated. Anything and everything."

Daphne agreed. They'd be back in Japan tomorrow. She was certain there would be plenty to keep him updated on.

* * *

That night, Daphne and Rin sat up—in part to book Rin a plane ticket for the following morning because he hadn't been smart enough to buy a return flight—but now thinking silently, Daphne tucked up under Rin's arm, both of them on the pullout couch sleeper. Father Michael had gone to bed only an hour or two ago, leaving them downstairs to puzzle over the events of the day, an Ella Fitzgerald record playing softly on the turntable.

"Are you ready to go back?" Rin asked quietly.

Daphne drew in a deep breath and let it slowly out her nose. "Yes."

His arm tightened around her shoulders. Daphne smiled, snuggling in. She couldn't say one way or another what would happen once she was back in Japan—how she would handle more semicapers, teaching blade bonding, or Morpheus inevitably. She didn't know what would happen when a call would come in or the ground would rumble and she'd be forced or asked to face her fears again. She _couldn't_ know. But she did know that she had Rin, someone who had already proved a hundred times over that he would stand by her side no matter what. So at least she wouldn't have to face them alone. Daphne wrapped her arms a little more snugly around his waist.

"I love you," she said.

* * *

The whole world stopped. Rin stared at Daphne. All he could think for a second was how he hadn't expected this—that he'd thought he would be the one to say it first, probably in some stupid way where it would come out by accident and he'd make a fool of himself like he always did and what a strange turn of events that that _wasn't_ how it had panned out, then he fully processed that Daphne hadn't said just any old anything before him, but _I love you_. Daphne loved him.

"I love you, too," he said without a second thought.

She sat up, looked right into his eyes, a hand on his cheek, and she stayed looking at him for a moment. He hadn't really noticed until right then how many different shades of green and brown there were in her eyes. Then she shut them and closed the distance between them to press her lips to his. Happily, his heart exulting, Rin kissed her back.

God, he loved her. So much. She was off-the-walls insane, but he didn't care. He loved that. Loved how strong she was. How strong she made him feel. He loved the way their lips matched perfectly together, how good Daphne's fingers felt through his hair and across his neck and pressed into his chest. How his own fingers tingled when they touched her hair and the residual holy water that stayed in no matter how long ago she had stopped using it.

If he were to spend a lifetime kissing Daphne, it wouldn't be enough.

* * *

 _Author's Note: *nervous laughter* I'm sorry it took so long to get this update out, but I hope the content makes up for it. Life got pretty busy there for a hot minute, but never fear, for I shall not leave this story entirely unattended. Thanks for sticking with me! Much love!_

 _~Phab_


	30. Part 30

Father Michael drove them to the airport the following morning amid a lot of grumbling from Rin that if he'd had the stupid car in the first place, then why had they ridden the bus to the cathedral at all, but Father Michael just smiled, unable to understand Rin, whistling pleasantly for the duration of the drive. He gave Daphne the book with all of his notes in it while they were standing on the curb before hugging her goodbye. Then he put out his hand for Rin to shake, and Rin turned a little pink, but obliged.

"You take good care of her," he said in Japanese, giving Rin a serious look.

Startled, it took Rin a moment to respond, but he nodded firmly. "I will."

Father Michael smiled at Daphne. "I googled how to say that," he said, chuckling. "But if you want to let him think I knew how to speak Japanese the whole time, that's okay with me."

Daphne laughed and shook her head. "You're terrible."

"I like to have a little fun is all." He pulled her in for a second hug. "You take good care of yourself, too, kiddo."

"Thank you, Michael. For everything."

"Don't be a stranger. Call me every day if you want."

Smiling, Daphne let go of him. "I'm sure I'll have plenty to tell you."

Father Michael waved goodbye their whole walk into the airport terminal. Daphne clutched his notebook to her chest while they checked into their flight and shuffled through security. She'd have to translate the notes into Japanese so Rin and Yukio and the others could study, too. She was determined to glean every possible piece of information she could, reluctant even to let go of the notebook to pass through security, but it came out the other side unharmed. While they were putting their shoes back on, Rin grumbled to himself and shook his head.

"What's got your undies in a wad?" Daphne laughed.

"I'm just jealous that you don't have to check any of your swords," he said, straightening up. "Kurikara could arrive in pieces and you get to walk through a detector with like six feet of metal in your shoulders no problem."

Daphne smiled, taking his hand. "Maybe you should reconsider the tattoos."

Once they were at the gate, Rin talked to the attendant about getting his seat changed so he could be by Daphne. The man ended up paging both the person by Rin and the person by Daphne up to the desk to ask if they'd be willing to swap, and both of the women graciously agreed, which made Rin happy, and he set out to find something to eat with a spring in his step.

"Are you visiting family in Japan?" one of the women asked as she followed Daphne back to sit down on the seats near the gate to wait.

"We live there, actually," Daphne replied. "I'm from Salem, so we were visiting here."

"Oh, that's wonderful. This is my first time travelling to Asia. I'm a little nervous." She offered a smile that said as much.

"You'll love it," Daphne said, figuring it was best not to mention the inbound hurricane of demons. "Japan is a beautiful country."

Rin came back a few minutes later with four cinnamon rolls—one for himself, one for Daphne, and one for each of the people who had traded them seats. The woman next to Daphne was absolutely floored, the second accepting with a gracious thank you, and the first one kept gushing about how sweet Rin was and oh my goodness what a nice thing while she ate the pastry. Rin waved her off each time, saying it was the least he could do, how she was the one who was nice, and on and on. Neither of them could understand the other, so it continued for a good ten minutes while Daphne chuckled to herself.

Eventually the woman quieted and Daphne leaned over to lace her fingers with Rin's and kiss his cheek.

"I love you," she said, and the words made her smile before they were even completely out of her mouth. They felt so new and exciting, but also familiar. Like she'd been saying them since they'd met.

Rin started, blushing with his mouth full of cinnamon roll. He had to swallow before he could say, "I love you, too."

An hour into the flight, Rin fell asleep, wrapped up in that terrible airplane blanket with both his and Daphne's free pillows under his head which rested on her shoulder. Daphne poured over Father Michael's notebook, making her own comments in the margins, looking things up on her phone on the airplane wifi. While Rin snored, she studied the drawings of Rin and herself and the apparent origins of their separate powers. Rin's flames manifested first in two points on his head, where his horns might have been if he had had them, then spread down according to Father Michael's observation. Daphne's aura appeared everywhere simultaneously. Did that mean anything? What were these other drawings scribbled on the side…?

Several hours later her hand was cramped and her eyes were tired and she sat back, wondering if she would ever find an answer. If there were even answers to be found.

* * *

Daphne woke Rin up to fill out his customs sheet.

"It's Tuesday now," she said. "So be sure to write the right date."

He just blinked at her. Tuesday? What the hell? He didn't argue, though, just put down that he had nothing to declare and shut his eyes again. Rin didn't fall back asleep this time, but listened to the overhead announcements from the flight attendants and was unexpectedly grateful to be able to understand what people were saying again.

Once they were off the plane they headed down to collect Kurikara and Daphne's luggage, and while they waited for the little carousel thing to start spinning, Rin turned his phone back on. The second he did, the thing flooded with texts and emails and missed calls—most of them from Yukio, but a few from Shiemi and Shura. Even one from Mephisto. So Rin called his brother to explain all that had happened, and got quite the earful for his troubles.

"Well, Yukio's pissed," Rin said, tucking his phone back in his pocket.

"Did he say anything about any more semicaper attacks?"

"Just one pretty close to the school. Nobody who wasn't an exorcist got hurt."

"Damn."

Rin nodded. "I know."

The carousel started turning and Daphne's luggage was one of the first off. She hopped over to retrieve it, then they headed out of the airport together and across the street to go down to the train station.

"What time is it?" Daphne asked.

"One o'clock."

"We can make it to True Cross in time for cram school, I think," she said.

"We won't have time to take your luggage back to your place."

She shrugged. "That's all right."

Part of Rin wanted to let Shura squirm for just one more day—he'd covered for _her_ more times than he could count—but no doubt she'd hunt him down the second she knew he was back if he didn't go. And the luggage was a pretty lame excuse. So he had to agree.

His students were happy to see them at least, Katsumi and Hiriko in particular. Daphne offered to start training with them while Rin worked with the others. Midway through the lesson, after pairing the exwires up and instructing them to spar, Rin watched Daphne teach for a second.

"You're gonna be a great mom," he said once class was over.

Looking a little startled, Daphne laughed. "Thanks," she said softly.

They went for dinner at that yakisoba place in the Middle Ring. He remembered while they ate and talked how flustered she had made him at first, how surprised he'd been when she'd agreed to go out with him. How full of fear her eyes were during that panic attack. He was so comfortable with her now, her eyes full of light instead of darkness. They were lucky to have found each other.

On their way back to Daphne's apartment, Rin's phone buzzed.

"Mephisto wants to meet tomorrow," he said, relaying the text back to her. "No doubt _he'll_ have a mouthful for us."

"Hey, _I_ had permission to leave," she replied.

Rolling his eyes, Rin shoved his phone back into his pocket and tucked his hands in after. "Well, it's your fault I left in the first place, so you're not totally free from blame."

Daphne laughed and punched his arm as they walked. "That is the lamest excuse I've ever heard."

"Ow! Don't hit."

So she hit him again. When Rin glared at her, she stuck her tongue out, and when he moved to give her a whack of her own, she dodged him, laughing.

"C'mon, old man. Is that the best you've got?"

Narrowing his eyes, Rin smiled. Then both of them took off running down the street. Daphne trailed her luggage behind her, the wheels clicking on every crack in the concrete, sometimes swinging it at Rin to keep him at bay. He ducked and dodged, finding ways around it, but getting thwarted by a lamppost or somebody's bike the next second. They laughed and laughed and shouted taunts at each other until the ground rumbled beneath their feet and Daphne's luggage handle slipped out of her hands.

They barely had time to glance at each other before two semicapers burst out of the ground.

A rocket of flames followed the manifestation, one that set the air rippling in heat waves and sent a group of bicycles parked on the side of the road exploding backward. Burning metal and rubber rained down into the yards of nearby houses. Rin swung Kurikara from his back and drew the blade, his flames reacting immediately as Daphne pulled Castor and Pollux from her shoulders at the same time.

A beat, then both of them bolted for the nearest semicaper. The demons were third form. Rin saw Daphne raise Castor to go for the snake head, so he doubled back to go after the sleeping goat. Chop, chop, both heads fell, the snake slightly before the goat. The tiniest flicker of a shadow Daphne cued him to her trajectory toward the awake goat, and he readied himself to stab it through the heart. _Chop_ , goat head gone, _ram_ , Kurikara in the right side of its chest. With a shriek and flash of heat, the demon disappeared.

All of this happened in a manner of seconds.

Daphne's feet touched the ground, and the two of them were off again, after the second semicaper who was roaring now. As Daphne neared the demon, it took a swipe at her head which she ducked, sliding across the asphalt between its legs. She was up the second she was clear and charging the demon again. Again, it raised a hand and Rin arrived just in time to cut it off at the elbow. Daphne kept on her course, never hesitating, going straight for the snake.

But its mouth was open, turned toward her, readying a blast of fire breath. Rin rammed Kurikara into its leg, and the demon screeched, turning to look down at him and giving Daphne just enough time to lop the head off before the blast could fully form. The snake head sizzled with the latent heat when it landed on the asphalt.

Rin was cutting off the goat heads and Daphne was hurling Pollux from her hand through its heart the next instant. Shriek, heat flash, and suddenly the street was quiet, the only evidence that anything had happened being a couple of scorch marks and the wreck of burning bicycles.

His heart beat quick with the exercise, and when he looked at Daphne, she was breathing heavily as well, her mouth open in a wide grin. He couldn't help smiling back. Just as she started to laugh, a thought struck.

She'd trusted him.

When she'd made that leap at the second semicaper, going after the head, she'd trusted him to parry its attack—no, before that even. The minute the demons had manifested. She'd trusted him to fight with her. Rin started to laugh as well. He almost couldn't believe it.

Daphne sheathed Castor and Pollux and stepped over to him, laughing still, and smiling like an idiot. She swung her arms around him and Rin picked her up and spun around, holding her close, both of them laughing together now. When he set her down, she kissed him. It felt different than before—deeper, filled with more intent. This time, as he kissed her back, rather than being fulfilling, it made him want more. Daphne pulled back and he could see that same feeling in her eyes. She broke from him only for an instant, then she was back.

Then both of them were moving down the street, kissing still. Then up the stairs to her apartment, kissing still. Daphne fumbled with her keys at the door, and once they were inside, she dropped them, turning around in Rin's arms just in time to put her lips to his as he picked her up. He felt her smile, felt the cold fire of her fingers as they slipped around the back of his neck, and all he could think about was how desperately he loved her.


	31. Part 31

Daphne couldn't fall asleep. Whether it was jet lag, or nerves, or excitement, or a powerful combination of the three, she was unsure, but lying there in the dark next to Rin she just couldn't close her eyes. All she wanted to do was look at him.

 _He_ was asleep—of course—on his stomach, his arms wrapped around the pillow beneath his head, snoring quietly with his mouth open. Daphne was silent, watching his breath fill and empty his lungs with the rising, falling of his back. Somehow, his personality was evident even in his sleep. Maybe it had something to do with his DNA.

Slightly pointed ears. Slightly pointed teeth. Outwardly, he didn't look very much like a demon at all—particularly to an untrained eye. Aside from his tail, that was. It sort of hovered in the air above his back, relaxed in his sleep. Reaching over, Daphne stroked the tuft of hair on the end. It was not as soft as she had expected, but not un-soft, more like a horse or goat than anything else. His tail flicked back out of her reach when she touched it a second time and that made her smile. Reflexes.

She traced her fingers over his shoulder, across his arm. In spite of all the sleep he'd gotten on the plane, Rin didn't even stir. Daphne didn't want him to wake up. She didn't want to go to sleep. She wanted the rest of her life to be this moment—this stillness of perfect contentment, nothing to frighten her and nothing to be worried about. Going to sleep would mean waking up in the morning, and waking up in the morning would mean having to turn around and face the sun, to steel her nerves and bear down against the oncoming storm. The difference now was that she knew she could do it.

What an unexpected turn of events to be sharing her life with a demon.

* * *

For the first—and let's face it, probably the last—time in his life, Rin was the first one up. His brain turned on like flipping a switch, just asleep one second and perfectly awake the next, and his eyes flicked open and there was Daphne. Her hair was a mess all over the place, tangled around her face and looking like it was glowing in the light from the window. He couldn't help the smile that spread itself out across his face. She was just so beautiful.

After a couple of minutes spent wondering what to do and trying to think of what it was other people did when they were up first, Rin got out of bed carefully so he wouldn't wake Daphne, dressed, and went into the kitchen. They had a little more than an hour before they'd need to be on the train to work—and if worse came to worse they could always use the cram school keys—so he'd let her sleep and make breakfast in the meantime.

Rin got out Daphne's weird pig teapot and the kettle and put some water on to boil. The cupboards were mostly empty except for some rice and a stale loaf of bread, so Rin ran down to the market on the corner to pick up a couple of eggs and milk and a new loaf. By the time he got back, the water was boiling, so he poured it into the teapot and left the leaves to steep.

The rice was halfway through cooking and he'd made a couple slices of French toast when the door to Daphne's room clicked open and she peeked her head out. Seeing him, she smiled and, tucking her still-messy hair behind her ear, came forward to wrap her arms around his middle and hug him from behind.

"Good morning," she said.

"Good morning."

"What are you making?"

"Rice and French toast," he responded and Daphne laughed. "The best of both worlds."

"Can I help?"

"You can pour the tea," he said. "These are mostly done."

Daphne found a couple of mugs and set the table with them. She poured tea and got out plates and things and Rin brought the rice and French toast over when they were finished. They ate in warm and companionable silence, Daphne's feet wrapped around his ankle under the table.

"Mephisto wanted to meet today, didn't he?"

Rin nodded. "At lunch."

"I forgot about the blade bonding class I was supposed to teach yesterday," she said. "The one for exorcists without demon blades."

"Huh."

Daphne got up and carried their plates to the sink, filled it with water and put all the dishes in to soak. "I should have been doing that while I was helping you at cram school."

"You missed the Saturday class, too, technically," Rin replied. "So it's not like anybody is more behind than anybody else. Plus when it comes down to it, the exwires are the ones who need more training." He shrugged. "Mephisto is lucky you're teaching at all."

"We'll need to report that semicaper attack from yesterday as well."

Rin had nearly forgotten about that. The event had passed so quickly and the demons been exorcised so easily that it almost didn't feel like an event at all. It was the first hint of what he and Daphne could be as a team—fighting cooperatively instead of against each other. Rin was excited. He'd never had a partner like that before.

By the sink, Daphne stretched for a moment. "I'm going to get in the shower," she said. "Would you like to join me?"

Rin had been in the process of standing up and slipped, only just managing to catch himself on the edge of the table.

"God, yes."

Daphne laughed. "Well then let's go."

* * *

Daphne's English students were happy to see her, but more because they'd hated the substitute than because they were actually glad to have her back. Throughout first and second period her mind kept drifting back to the semicapers, to the fact that demon activity was only bound to get worse, and she wondered what it must have been like to be one of her students, to have no idea that demons existed at all, to be taught poetry by an exorcist who had done and seen unthinkable things and not know it. Daphne had dealt with demons for as long as she could remember. She had never experienced a world without them. She wasn't sure if she pitied her students or envied them.

At lunch she met Rin and the two of them went up to Mephisto's office for their appointed meeting. He _did_ have an earful for them as Rin had predicted, going on and on about duty and responsibility and all kinds of other abstract concepts he'd never once lived in his life, but he shut up when Daphne presented him with the translated version of Father Michael's notebook.

"He's an expert on human connections to Gehenna," Daphne said while Mephisto thumbed through the pages, his eyes wide, an incredible smile on his lips. "We didn't have much time with him, so the notes are only surface level, but still more thorough than any of us could have been."

" _Miss Lux_ ," Mephisto breathed. Daphne couldn't tell if he was astonished or agitated. "You've read these?"

"I translated them, so, yeah."

"Do you understand them?"

"Bits and pieces. And what Father Michael explained to us."

Mephisto's impossibly wide grin grew impossibly wider. "This is more promising than I had hoped."

"What is?" Rin asked, to which Mephisto just chuckled gleefully to himself and twitched a finger back and forth.

"There will be no reprimand for either of your absences," he said, his gaze magnetizing back to the notebook. He turned a page. "May I keep this?"

"Sure. I have the original."

"Wonderful. You're dismissed."

With a shooing motion from Mephisto, Rin and Daphne left the office. Rin slipped his hand into Daphne's as they walked.

"What was that about?" he asked.

Daphne shook her head. "I have no idea."

"Does Mephisto ever make you feel…"

"Like a game piece on a chess board?"

"Yeah."

"All the time."

Rin pursed his lips, thinking for a moment. They'd started down the stairs, and he had finally gathered his thoughts once they reached the bottom, but Shura ambushed them coming around the corner, so whatever he had been about to say turned into a startled shout instead when she appeared and yelled,

"Where in the sweet hell have _you_ been?!"

"Holy shit, Shura! Don't _do_ that." Rin pressed his free hand to his heart and drew in a couple of deep breaths while Daphne chuckled.

"We took a trip to Boston," she said. "To see my old teacher about the connection my aura has to Rin's flames."

"Oh." Shura's eyebrows drew together. "Wait… You were in _Boston?_ "

"Says the woman who disappears for weeks without telling anyone where she's going," Rin grumbled and started off down the hall, pulling Daphne behind him.

"Why didn't you _say_ anything?" Shura fell into step with Daphne.

"Yukio knew," Rin replied. "Take it up with him."

Apparently Shura still couldn't quite process what was going on. "Wait, so you two are good now?"

Daphne smiled. "Very."

Shura stopped dead in her tracks. Somehow, she'd managed to read into the deepest possible subtext of Daphne's response and the understanding of someone who both knew two people very well and also generally assumed more than she should flashed in her eyes.

" _No_ ," she gasped.

Daphne only had time to wink before Rin pulled her around the corner and down the hall to lunch.


	32. Part 32

There was a semicaper attack that afternoon. What was unusual about it was that it happened to be the first call on a demon manifestation the Knights of the True Cross had received all day. In fact, there hadn't been _any_ manifestations for a full twenty-four hours before that, semicaper or otherwise. So when the report came in, every on-duty exorcist practically flew down to the site—a park on the east side in the Lower Ring—ready for action.

Unfortunately for Rin, this did not include him. He was teaching cram school, and only knew about the attack because Shura came down to collect Daphne before heading out herself.

Daphne gave him a kiss on the cheek as she left. "See you later."

"I'll come down as soon as class is over."

He didn't _want_ to worry about Daphne and he certainly didn't need to, but he couldn't help it. Terrible potential outcomes played in the back of his mind through the rest of class, and on the entire train ride down to the park once it had ended. When he arrived, the whole place was surrounded by an Aria barrier, so he hurried over to the little cluster of exorcists forming the command center.

"What's the story?" he asked just as a rumble shook the ground and an ear-splitting chorus of shrieks vibrated through the air.

A senior exorcist looked his direction. "Initial manifestation of approximately ten third-form semicapers. No other or lesser demons sighted yet. Reports from the field indicate that there are anywhere between sixteen and eight semicapers yet to be exorcised."

That seemed like a very large margin of error, but Rin didn't say anything about it because a radio on the little table crackled and Daphne's voice came through the speaker.

"Lux to command center. As soon as Mr. Okumura gets here, will you send him in, please?"

The senior exorcist glanced at Rin. "He just arrived, Miss Lux," he said into his microphone.

The radio laughed. "Perfect timing. Hello, Rin."

He only just managed to stop himself from responding. Daphne couldn't hear him, she was on the radio and he didn't have a headset. The senior exorcist issued one to Rin and sent him into the park. Tucking the earpiece into his ear as he crossed over the Aria barrier, Rin tested the channel.

"Where are you at, Daph?"

The earpiece crackled. "I'm over by the playground on the west side," she responded, and her voice sounded weird and feedback-y, so Rin adjusted his settings. "Are you coming in?"

"Already on my way," he replied.

He jogged quickly through the park, keeping clear of any particular rumblings and shrieks from the semicapers not far from him. There were already several exorcists apiece to the demons nearest the park entrance, and Daphne was at the back, so he figured it would be best just to hurry through and get to where she was. He passed a couple teams of exorcists fighting semicaper pairs with marginal success. They were taking too long, and additional demons were manifesting before the originals were completely exorcised. When Rin got to the playground, Daphne was swinging on the swings.

"What in the _hell?_ "

"There you are," she laughed, and jumped from the swing on its next arc forward. She landed on the rubber playground flooring with a bounce.

"What are you _doing?_ "

"Waiting for you," she replied. "The Arias have the area perfectly contained, so there won't be any manifestations outside of the park, and the only people _in_ the park are exorcists. I figured they could probably use the practice. Don't worry. I would have killed anything that got too close."

A semicaper with three sleeping heads came lumbering out of the trees and Daphne drew Helen of Troy and hurled the boomerang at the demon. The blade sliced through all three heads and shot back to her hand where she caught it and smiled.

"See?"

Rin barely had time to turn around and see the body before it disintegrated in the customary puff of smoke and ash.

"Was that in first form?"

Daphne nodded. "I've been reciting the Fatal Verse since I got here, so most of those have gone unreported because they never fully manifest."

Rin pushed the live button and spoke into his microphone. "Okumura to command. Can we get some Arias on the semicaper Fatal Verse? Daphne's been doing it, but now that I'm here she'll need her mouth free."

"Don't say it like that," Daphne laughed, but it was too late and the channel was already cackling with laughter. Rin blushed. Shura's voice crackled through a little louder than the cacophony.

"Do you always meet your girls down at the park?"

"Shut it, Shura, I meant we'll need to be able to talk to each other."

Daphne clicked in to her microphone. "Don't worry. I'll make it fast."

Everyone started laughing all over again and Rin turned a deeper, warmer red while the command center agreed to put some of the Arias on the Fatal Verse and the chatter died down.

"They should never have given you a headset," Rin grumped. "You're not even with the Knights of the True Cross. Who's gonna be responsible if that gets damaged?"

Rolling her eyes, Daphne grabbed his collar and pulled him into a kiss. "Get over it," she said. "Do you want to practice on these semicapers or not?"

Rin _wanted_ her to kiss him again, but that didn't seem work appropriate. Especially considering the conversation that had just taken place over the radio channel. Instead he nodded and together the two of them headed off into the park.

The first semicaper they crossed paths with was third form. Rin went for the snake head, Daphne the sleeping goat, Rin the awake goat, Daphne the heart. Its partner was not far behind, and they dispatched that one just as easily. While they still hadn't managed to activate the full predictive shadows that had happened during their first sparring match, they did seem to be able to sense where the other was headed before it happened.

A semicaper appeared at the end of the path ahead of them. The snake was awake, and one of the goats. The second goat seemed to be inflating like a balloon, its mouth and eyes opening with sticky fire. It was waking up.

"Shit. That one's changing forms, isn't it?"

Daphne was already speaking into her microphone. "Lux to command center. Okumura and I have encountered a semicaper moving into fourth form. Please inform all exorcists in the area."

"Roger, Lux."

Rin knew how to kill it. Daphne's pamphlet via Mephisto had taught him that much, but he was still unsettled watching bones apparently form inside the wiggly goat head to make it stand upright. The demon would be faster now, and quite a bit more robust. They couldn't afford to hesitate even a second.

Ready as he'd thought he was, it still caught Rin off-guard when the second goat head went fully upright with a snap and the snake head opened its mouth and sent a burst of flames shooting out the same instant. Daphne leapt to the side to dodge, then went running forward toward the semicaper. Rin stumbled, got a little singed on his coattails, then followed suit. The snake head whirled around and sent another arc of flames in a fiery circle. Rin hit the grass. Daphne did the same, and he looked at her across the lawn.

"I didn't think the difference would be _this_ extreme," he called over the machine gun whirring of the demon, getting to his feet and running again.

"Wait until you see the fifth form," Daphne replied with a grim, not-quite smile.

Rin went for the nearest goat head. The semicaper blocked him. Daphne followed up his attack and the demon blocked her as well. The two of them had to dive to miss the long sweeps it made with its arms to knock them aside. As soon as the whirring stopped, the semicaper released another powerful blast.

"Can't you just throw your blades at it?" Rin shouted, only just dodging the flare. He swiped at the semicaper's ankles and missed when it took a step back.

"Blade bonding doesn't work like that," Daphne replied. "There are restrictions. If I'm not guaranteed to return the blade to my hand, I can't let go of it."

"Well, _that's_ stupid."

"I don't make the rules."

Daphne landed the first blow—two deep slices in the semicaper's right arm, not enough to sever it, but enough to draw most of its attention. Rin took advantage of what he'd thought was an opportunity, leaping at the semicaper from behind, but one of the goat heads turned his direction, opening its mouth and sending out a shower of what looked like ground up asphalt. With a yelp, Rin managed to get out of the way of the shower, but not the semicaper's grasp, which closed around his shoulder and dug its claws into his skin.

"Shit, shit, _shit!_ "

Holy _shit_ , that _hurt_. Rin's knees gave out underneath him as he moved to take a whack at the semicaper. Its claws burned, searing into his shoulder, and he grimaced, wanting to wriggle out of its grasp, but he found he could barely move at all. Daphne hurled Pollux into the semicaper's gut, and it released Rin with a cry of pain. He stumbled away, bringing a hand up to his shoulder to check the wound and it came away bloody.

"Are you all right?" Daphne called, Pollux returning to her hand. She barely had time to glance at him before parrying two more swipes from the semicaper.

"I don't know, I think so…"

His shoulder didn't hurt anymore, in fact, it felt kind of numb, but there was still blood pouring out of it. Daphne cut the first goat head off the semicaper. More of that asphalt stuff spilled out.

Shrieking, the snake let loose a fire blast. Rin drew Kurikara and sliced the second goat. When the snake looked his direction, Rin noticed something different in its eyes. Something like recognition.

Then Daphne cut its head off.

She was right next to him a second later, checking the punctures in his shoulder. The bleeding was slowing, and had soaked his jacket, but he still couldn't feel anything. The headless semicaper stumbled around, spilling asphalt.

"You're good?" she asked.

"I've had worse," Rin replied. Had the semicaper _recognized_ him? Was that really what he'd seen?

"This one's partner can't be too far from here."

She had barely taken a half step toward the body when their earpieces crackled.

"Lux? Okumura? This is command center. Lord Pheles just arrived on the scene. He's asking for you."

Daphne ran the semicaper through the heart. "What? Now?"

"Yes. He says it's urgent."


	33. Part 33

The instant Daphne and Rin exited the Aria barrier, Mephisto appeared right in front of them, wrapped his hands around either of their wrists, and disappeared again in a burst of pink smoke, but this time he took them with him. For a moment, the entire universe seemed to compress around Daphne, squeezing until she thought she might pop, then the smoke cleared and they were standing in Mephisto's office. Coughing, partially from the smoke and partially because she'd had the wind knocked out of her, Daphne stumbled and caught herself on one of the chairs in front of his desk.

Rin shook glitter out of his hair. "I hate it when you do that."

"My apologies," Mephisto replied, grinning and looking not in the least bit sorry, "but you see it _is_ rather urgent."

Daphne couldn't get her coughing under control enough to add her own thoughts to the matter, most of which were curse words. Rin put his hand on her back and asked, "You okay?"

She shook her head, coughing still, and a glass of water appeared in front of her face. Dizzy, she took it from Mephisto and drank.

"Traveling through the space time rift can be a trifle taxing for humans," Mephisto said. "I once had a gentleman explode on me. Guts from here to Ancient Greece." He laughed and Daphne chugged the rest of the water and hurled the glass at his head, but the demon king ducked and the glass shattered against the far wall. "Oh, come now. You survived, didn't you?"

"There are few people in Assiah and Gehenna that I hate more than you," Daphne rasped.

Mephisto clicked his tongue. Rin suddenly went tense.

"Wait…Daphne could have _died?_ "

Daphne threw up her hands and made a where-the-hell-have-you-been-for-the-last-two-minutes face at Rin, who turned his attention to Mephisto, his mouth hanging open and an expression of shock and concern coloring his features.

"You almost _killed_ Daphne?"

"Oh, come now." Mephisto waved his hand. "Miss Lux is hardly injured. She's remarkably hardy for a human. Besides, the likelihood of human harm is only one in ten."

" _One_ in _ten?_ "

"Basic statistics, dear brother."

Whatever Rin was about to say next it got lost in a series of swearing, squawks, and panicked energy, wherein he went after Mephisto and Mephisto ran, so Rin chased him around the room, swearing and squawking and panicking still while Mephisto dodged the blows Rin swung at his head. Five seconds later, Daphne had had enough.

" _Boys!_ "

The shout brought the two demons stumbling to a halt. Teeth bared, Daphne glared, her gaze flicking from Mephisto to Rin to Mephisto again. Both of them swallowed.

"How about we stop acting like children and you tell us what was so urgent?" she said, her voice strained and tight. She felt like she might tip over.

Mephisto cleared his throat. Rin straightened his jacket.

"Right," they said at the same time. When they went to take a step forward, Rin swiped at Mephisto's top hat, but the demon king dodged. Glowering, Rin threw himself into a seat and folded his arms across his chest.

"Hang on…" Daphne came forward and touched his shoulder. The fabric of Rin's uniform wasn't torn or bloody anymore. "What happened to your wound?"

"Space time rift," Mephisto supplied, sitting at his desk. "It may open up again in a minute or two. You can never be quite sure."

Astonished, Daphne sat down in the chair next to Rin's. Her head was still spinning, bits of glitter or smoke still settling in the corners of her vision—like they weren't actually there but were visible on another plane. Mephisto was Samael, King of Time. She knew this of course but the thought had never before occurred to her that he might have powers like that which she'd just experienced. Rin reached over and took hold of her hand protectively. She let him.

"What was so urgent you felt taking a one in ten chance that I'd be seriously injured?" she asked.

"This," Mephisto replied and slid the copy of Father Michael's notebook Daphne had given him across the table. It was folded open to the page with the diagram drawings of Rin and Daphne. The drawings she hadn't quite been able to decipher.

"I take it your priest did not explain this particular to either of you."

Daphne hated to admit it, but she had to. "No."

"It is likely he didn't quite understand it himself. You see, these drawings allege to show the manifestations of your individual auras—Miss Lux's all at once, Rin's from where your horns ought to be." He made gestures at the drawings on the paper to illustrate his point. "However, what these drawings _actually_ show is the auras' connection to each other."

"How so?"

"Rin. You remarked that your flames seem to feed off Miss Lux's aura, is that correct?"

"Yeah." Rin scratched the back of his head. "They get stronger and easier to control."

"As your flames manifest, they draw power from your connection to Gehenna through your demon blood, growing from point A—" He pointed at Rin's head in the drawing. "—to point B." He pointed at Rin's feet. "As they go, they search for sources of power to fuel their manifestation. Yours or…otherwise."

Rin and Daphne glanced at each other.

"Otherwise?"

"Miss Lux's aura is the result of a deep connection to Gehenna," Mephisto said. "Similar enough to your demon blood that your flames are able to harness it. By fueling your demon form with that connection in addition to your demon blood, you push your transformation deeper, hence the increased control. I believe it is quite likely that were you to feed off _all_ of Miss Lux's aura at once, you would be able to manifest a _full_ demon form."

" _What?_ " Rin's hand tightened around Daphne's and he glanced at her, his eyebrows drawn tight over his eyes. "But what would that _look_ like?"

"I don't know."

"What would that do to _Daphne?_ "

"I don't know."

Daphne had only known Mephisto for a short time, but she understood him well enough to know that he was not the kind of man to admit he did not know something lightly. In fact, it was the first time since she'd come to True Cross that she had ever heard those words exit his lips at all. They made her stomach twist into knots. The dizziness once faded came back.

"With the appearance of the fourth form semicapers, I did not want to risk the two of you perhaps activating this power by mistake." Mephisto looked seriously at each of them in turn. "That is why I removed you from the situation as quickly as possible."

Daphne's heart beat hard in her chest. Not only was Mephisto loathe to admit he did not know things, but he was also not the type to outwardly show concern. But he looked _concerned_. _Very_ concerned. Her rapid heartbeat made her breath come deep and her deep breath made her head feel light and her light head made her all the more aware of her rapid heartbeat. Her arms no longer seemed connected to her body. Rin's hand holding hers was just a dull sensation at the end of a lifeless limb.

"If…" Her mouth was speaking, but she wasn't the one controlling the words. "If Rin were to manifest a full demon form, would his power be equivalent to Satan's?"

"Yes. Or greater."

Daphne might have nodded. She wasn't sure.

"Greater? How could it be _greater?_ " That sounded like Rin.

"Satan is powerful, but he is still bound by the laws of Gehenna. His strength can therefore never reach its _full_ potential in Assiah. You, however, are not bound by either world. You hold equal footing in both."

Rin spluttered for a moment.

"I am not certain, but logic would dictate that you would be able to equal and thereby surpass Satan's power by virtue of being free of the bonds of Gehenna."

All those times they'd pushed themselves to bring the predictive shadows to life. All the times they'd fought and sparred and tried to increase their power, they'd been on the brink of activating something that had a _demon king_ worried. Something that could have been catastrophically destructive.

"The two of you must either cease fighting together or begin working toward an understanding of exactly what this power entails. And with Morpheus coming whether we like it or not…"

"Not fighting together really isn't an option."

"Exactly, Miss Lux."

Swallowing, Daphne looked at her lap. Maybe she should have been frightened, but she wasn't. She wasn't anything at all really. Her whole mind was just…blank. Rin and Mephisto spoke for a while, or maybe it was only a few seconds, and she slowly came back to herself, like a spirit returning to its body.

"We should call Father Michael," she said, and interrupted whatever Rin had been saying.

Mephisto looked at her. "By all means, Miss Lux. If you think he'll be able to help."

"I think he'll be better than nothing."

* * *

Back at home, she and Rin were silent. Daphne stood at the stove and waited for the kettle to boil. Rin sat at the table, his head propped up on his fist, his eyes focused on nothing in particular. In the quiet, Daphne brewed tea and set it in front of him, then took a seat at the table herself.

"What do you think?" Rin asked, still looking out over the kitchen, his tea untouched.

Daphne shook her head. "I don't know. I don't know what taking on a demon form feels like for you." She couldn't have even speculated what growing fangs and lighting on fire was like, much less becoming a full-fledged demon. "What do _you_ think?"

"If what Mephisto says is true, I… I had a hard enough time learning to control a _half_ demon form."

"But you did learn."

"A lot of people got hurt in the process."

"But you _learned._ "

"I don't want to hurt you, Daph."

Finally, he looked at her. There were tears in his eyes. They weren't sad tears, he wasn't upset. He was afraid. He'd told her once that that was the thing he was most scared of—hurting the people he cared about. Daphne got up.

"Rin…"

She couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Rin."

Pulling her chair over, Daphne sat down in front of him. She took his free hand and held it in her own. Rin looked away from her, sniffing and picking up his cup to sip his tea and hide behind it.

"I love you," she said.

"I love you, too," he whispered.

They went quiet again. In truth, neither of them knew what Mephisto's theories would actually mean, or if it was even possible for what he said to be true. Then again, Mephisto was a lot of things but a liar wasn't one of them. His apprehension had gotten under their skin, but it wasn't every day one saw a look of true seriousness on Samael's face. Still, it was pointless to worry over the unknown. Still, the unknown in this case was a very big unknown.

"I'll email Father Michael," Daphne said. "If nothing else maybe we'll be able to set up a time to call him?"

Rin nodded.

"Do you want to go to True Cross early tomorrow? Get started?"

"I don't want to do anything…"

"Rin."

He didn't budge.

"Look at me please."

Begrudgingly, Rin turned his face her direction.

"We don't know that this is a bad thing," she said. "It might not hurt me at all. Maybe you won't be able to draw a full form. Maybe you will and some crazy thing will happen to me in the process that makes _my_ aura stronger."

"We don't know _that_."

"We don't know _anything_. We can't sit here and be afraid of something we don't understand. Let's at least try to understand it before we let it scare us. Okay?"

Rin held her eye, studying, looking deep. Daphne let him, trying to stay steady, trying to look confident. After a moment, Rin nodded.

"Okay."

Leaning forward, Daphne put her hand around the back of Rin's head and kissed him. She could still sense how worried he was when he kissed her back. She pulled away for a moment to look at him.

"Whatever happens, I trust you."

That made him pause. Blinking, Rin stared at her, his eyes sparked with something Daphne couldn't quite label. Excitement, maybe. Joy. He looked like that was the most wonderful thing she could have said to him. When Rin kissed her this time, that joy was reflected in it instead. Daphne smiled, pulling him to his feet and then into her room.


	34. Part 34

Yukio was standing in Rin's office the following morning, his arms folded across his chest and his mouth set into a hard line, when Rin came into work. The two of them just stared at each other for a second until Yukio broke the silence.

"You've been back in the country for _how_ long and haven't been home?"

Rin sighed, moving toward his desk. "It's been a crazy couple of days, Yukio."

"And I haven't _seen_ you for any of them."

"What are you a housewife?" Rin tossed his bag and Kurikara onto his desk and flopped into his chair. "I really don't need you on my back about this."

" _Some_ body needs to be on your back about _some_ thing _some_ time! You're twenty-six years old, you think you would have learned a little responsibility by—"

"Mephisto thinks I might be able to manifest a full demon form."

 _That_ made Yukio shut up. He fell back a step and regarded Rin with apprehension, searching his face for the lie. But the lie wasn't there because it wasn't a lie. The realization brought Yukio down into a chair across from Rin.

"You're _serious?_ "

It wasn't really a question, just astonishment that made the end of his sentence curl up into disbelief. Rin answered it anyway.

"Yeah."

"Shit _…_ "

Not every day that Yukio the purist swore. Rin couldn't blame him. He'd been doing a lot of mental swearing himself. Daphne had looked confident, said she trusted him, was willing to experiment, but Daphne was also the woman who'd pioneered a demon sword technique at the behest of the American military where you shoved said sword _through your body_ , so her opinion was probably a little less sane than the average person's. Her trust and confidence aside, Rin was less than optimistic himself. Which was unusual.

"How?" Yukio's hands gestured emphatically with his concern though he tried to hide their movement. "How is that even possible?"

"Daphne's aura," Rin replied. "According to Mephisto's understanding of Father Michael's research, my demon form draws power from my blood, which is connected to Gehenna, and since Daphne's aura is _also_ connected to Gehenna…"

"It provides another source for your demon form to draw power."

"Exactly."

" _Shit._ "

"I know."

Yukio covered his mouth with his hand, propping himself up with his elbows on his knees, thinking deeply for a moment. Eventually he sat up.

"What does Daphne think about this? She knows, right?"

"Yeah, she knows. She thinks we have to do research, or tests, or experiments, or something. Like, that we have to figure out if it really is possible and if it is, what it's going to do." Rin shrugged.

"How do _you_ feel?"

Rin couldn't bring himself to look at his brother—his brother, who knew better than anyone how difficult the whole demon thing had been for Rin. For both of them. For their family. Daphne was understanding, sure, empathetic, absolutely, accepting, yes, but she hadn't been there at the beginning. She hadn't seen the blood and the tears and the pain. Yukio had. He'd been through all of it. So he understood a little better exactly what this news meant for Rin.

Rin shook his head. "I don't know."

"You're stronger now," Yukio said. "You may be able to control it."

"That kind of power, Yukio… I'm the son of _Satan,_ not just half demon. Half king-of- _all-demons_. I'm stronger, yeah, but strong enough?" Rin tossed his shoulders again in an angry, frightened shrug. "I don't know about that."

They were quiet. Yukio had been through all of it, and he also perfectly understood all of Rin's shortcomings. He wasn't the type to provide false encouragement either. After a moment's thought, his eyebrows drew together.

"Do you think Mephisto knew?" he asked.

Rin looked up. "Knew what?"

"About this. When he offered Daphne a position working here. Do you think he knew that this might be possible?"

Rin opened his mouth, but he didn't have any ideas. Mephisto had known about Daphne's abilities, and might have guessed that there was a possibility they could interact with Rin's, but the way he'd behaved in their meeting…

"If he did know, I don't think he ever thought it would go this far."

Yukio nodded. "Mm."

They were quiet again. Then Yukio said, "We're lucky it's Daphne."

"Huh?"

"Well, I mean, think about it. What if the person who had this power hated you? Or wanted to unleash your full demon form without fear of the consequences? Or was mentally unstable?"

"Well…"

"Okay, forget that last one. My point is this is _Daphne_ we're talking about. She's strong, intelligent, capable. And your girlfriend."

Rin sighed. "It's that last one that's got me more worried than anything."

Yukio looked like he was about to ask why, then the answer dawned on him. He nodded grimly. "You're afraid you might hurt her."

"Worst case scenario, I go into some crazy demon berserker rage and kill her," Rin replied. "Next-to-worst case, my demon energy drains her aura and _that_ kills her. I can think of about a hundred different ways she'll end up dead." Rin laughed, but only because he didn't know how else to react.

"Does she know how worried you are?"

"No. I don't think so."

"You should tell her."

Rin shook his head, nervous just thinking about it. "What if she doesn't get it? What if she thinks it's stupid for me to be afraid?"

"I think Daphne of all people will be forgiving when someone is afraid."

Smiling sadly, Yukio stood up. He clapped Rin on the shoulder before heading for the door.

"Talk to her," he said, and left.

* * *

Rin brooded all morning. He brooded all through lunch. Daphne didn't press him. Yukio kept his mouth shut. Shura blabbed on and on about the latest episode of whatever ridiculous reality television show she was currently watching, and none of them except for Shiemi really paid attention. Daphne just placed her hand on his knee and let him eat in over-thinking silence.

Toward the end of the lunch hour, the on-duty exorcists, which included Rin, Shura, Yukio, and Shiemi, got called out to attend to various demon manifestations. Rin and Shiemi to goblins in the Middle Ring, and Yukio and Shura to a coltar swarm in the Lower. Rin kissed Daphne goodbye, very poorly disguising his relief that she wouldn't be coming with them. The less time they spent fighting in the field together at the moment the better. He and Shiemi headed out quickly.

"Rin?" Shiemi said softly as they walked. "Is something on your mind?"

Rin glanced at her and she was looking at him with those big green eyes, nothing but concerned. He looked away, frowning.

"I really don't want to talk about it," he said.

"Okay."

He didn't need another person worried over his potential newfound power, and he _especially_ didn't need to bother Shiemi with it right before an exorcism. They made their way swiftly down to where a bunch of goblins were playing in a row of apartment block dumpsters and got rid of them even though Rin got distracted by his thoughts and one of the goblins took a bite out of his leg. Shiemi asked Nee to grow a weird plant—Rin didn't know which one—and Shiemi wrapped its leaves around Rin's ankle, mumbling some phrase or other. As soon as she let go, he felt the wound start to heal.

"Thanks."

"Of course."

She made him stay seated for a few minutes to let the herb really soak in before they started back to True Cross. Shiemi folded her hands into her sleeves as they walked.

"Did you have a nice time in Boston?" she asked.

Rin nodded. "Yeah, it was good. We didn't really get to see much of the city since we were doing research the whole time, but it was good." Research that had led to one of the most bone-chilling discoveries of Rin's life.

"Daphne seems different."

"She's doing a lot better," he replied. "Father Michael really helped her sort some stuff out. I think he did Puritan magic or something." It was Rin's turn now to be the nervous one.

The ground rumbled. Two asphalt-colored semicapers came struggling out of the street, all of their heads asleep. Rin started to swing Kurikara down off his back, but Shiemi grabbed his hand, squeezed her eyes shut, and started saying words so quickly Rin didn't realize they were the first six _suras_ of the Qur'an until she got to the last few and the semicapers disappeared in shrieking puffs of smoke. Rin looked down at Shiemi in surprise.

"Since when are you an Aria?"

"O-oh, I'm not. I'm not." Shiemi blushed a ferocious red and shook her head and waved her hands as the same time. "I just decided it would be good to memorize the semicaper's Fatal Verse. For situations like this."

Rin just blinked at her. The semicaper's fatal verse was _not_ a short one. If Shiemi could memorize that, it seemed to him like she could have memorized whatever she wanted, but he didn't want to embarrass her by saying so, so he just nodded.

"I'm glad you did."

"Me too. Let's hurry back and fill out our report."

* * *

Shura and Yukio had come across a couple of first form semicapers during their exorcism as well. In fact, a whole slew of them had been called in all over the city—all first form, and all exorcised without too much of a problem, aside from the one that had set a car on fire after the snake head had woken up.

Some of the senior strategic staff pulled up a virtual map of the city and marked the site of each demon manifestation with a little red dot. Every exorcist who had led one of the teams during an attack or seen one that day was clustered in the office, looking over the map and talking over possibilities.

"Is there a pattern here?"

"Do certain forms only manifest in particular rings?"

"Mr. Okumura, is Miss Lux available to consult?"

Rin had been too busy imagining turning into a semicaper himself, only a semicaper with Satan's power, to really be paying attention to the meeting and jumped when his name was mentioned.

"Um, what time is it?" he managed to choke out.

"Just after three."

"School's over, so she should be fine."

A runner was sent out and Rin sunk down into his seat, feeling sheepish. Shura leaned over to whisper to him while the rest of the exorcists launched back into a flurry of discussion.

"So are you and Daphne, like, in love?"

Rin scowled at her. "What? What the hell, Shura?"

"I just want to know if I should start saving for a wedding gift or something. How serious is this?"

"Semicapers attack the city in mass and you're worried about whether or not you need to buy me and Daphne a _wedding gift?_ "

Of course, Daphne picked that time to arrive and everyone else decided to go quiet once she came in the door, so the whole room heard the last couple of words and Shura snorted and Rin went red and put his face in his hand. Daphne carried on like nothing had happened.

"What was it you wanted me to look at?"

"Just here, Miss Lux…"

They ushered Daphne forward so she was right up under the map. Rin punched Shura in the shoulder, but she just took it, stifling her laughter in her sleeve. Daphne studied the screen for a moment.

"This is a diagram of all the demon manifestations in the area," one of the strategists explained.

"Can you code them?" Daphne asked, looking back over her shoulder at the guy who was sitting at the computer.

He nodded. "Sure. What do you want to display?"

"Bring up just second and first form semicapers, please."

Computer guy nodded, typing away. He hit enter with a flourish and immediately everyone started whispering. All the first and second form manifestations made the unmistakable shape of a five-pointed star.

"Now third and forth."

More typing. When computer guy hit enter this time, the manifestations formed a weird symbol like a squashed English M or a lowercase U with a drip coming off the front. Rin had never seen it before.

"This is the Greek letter mu," Daphne told the group. "Can you code them so that first and second display a different color, but bring them all up together?"

Nodding, typing, a moment later the squashed M was superimposed perfectly over the top of the pentagram.

"Goddamn it." Daphne turned and looked at all of them over her shoulder. "They're laying the summoning lines for Morpheus."


	35. Part 35

An hour later, every member of the Knights of the True Cross Japan Branch under the employ of Mephisto Pheles had been ordered to gather at True Cross Academy. Rin and the others piled into one of the larger classrooms and things got started right away. Daphne and Mephisto stood at the front of the room and Mephisto stepped forward to greet everyone.

"Welcome, associates. Thank you for coming. Some of you are already aware of the reason for this meeting." He raised his umbrella to tap the wall and a projection screen dropped down, followed shortly thereafter by the click of a projector as it turned on. Rin still didn't know when the school had installed projectors, or why none of _his_ classrooms ever seemed to have one, but the picture that popped up was the map with all the semicaper attacks on it, so he figured now probably wasn't the best time to bring it up.

Mephisto glanced over at Daphne. "Last time we met like this we were talking about _you_ , Miss Lux," he smiled. "Amusing how things come round like that."

Daphne ignored him, taking over. "For those of you who don't know, this is a map depicting all of the semicaper manifestations since they began. The dots in red are first and second form, forming a pentagram as you see, and the dots in blue are third and fourth. They have begun to form the Greek letter mu, though there has only been one fourth form manifestation, so the symbol is not yet complete."

One of the exorcists at the front raised her hand. "What has this got to do with anything?"

"These are the summoning lines for Morpheus."

 _That_ information raised quite a stir. People started whispering, and the whispers turned into loud talking almost immediately. The exorcists who'd asked the question kept going, a look of absolute shock on her face.

"Why weren't the summoning lines in the information packet?"

Daphne frowned. "They were. Page fifty-five."

The exorcist whipped her packet out of her bag, flipped to the back and held it up for Daphne to see. "This ends on page fifty-four."

" _What?_ "

Daphne rushed forward, took hold of the packet in her hands, and looked very closely at it. Then she turned to Mephisto.

"What the _hell?_ "

Mephisto smiled, putting his hands up to shrug. "I may have forgotten to photocopy the last page. I don't quite remember."

Daphne's face turned red.

"Are you _joking_ me?"

"I'm afraid not, Miss Lux."

"Does this look like a _joke_ to you? Morpheus is going to manifest _right on top_ of the city and you forgot to include the layout of its summoning lines in the packet?"

"Miss Lux—"

"Do you _want_ people to get killed?"

Daphne advanced on Mephisto. Mephisto backed up.

"Do you _enjoy_ watching the people under your command suffer? Because I'll tell you what, _I_ certainly don't—and I've seen it happen. I've seen entire squads wiped out by this thing, _my_ squad. And it will happen again here if we're not prepared."

Nervous whispers swept through the gathered exorcists. Daphne had backed Mephisto into the corner. She whirled away from him to face the group.

"If there are any of you who haven't read that packet, do it. _Now_. This isn't a joke. You have no idea how dangerous this demon is."

She stared expectantly at the group, her eyebrows raised high, and when nobody moved or did anything she ordered, " _Read!_ " in a voice that got everybody pulling their packets out or sharing with their neighbors and poring over the text. Rin suspected it was a voice she'd perfected over years of military service.

"I'll answer questions as they arise," Daphne said, and folded her arms.

The exorcists read the portion on Morpheus, discussing in hushed tones. Rin would have been reading, too, but he'd read the packet several times already, and had heard the information straight from the horse's mouth as it were. Also, the guy next to him had asked to borrow his, so Rin had complied. Instead he watched Daphne pace back and forth in front of the projection screen and chalkboards until several minutes had passed and someone in the back raised their hand. Daphne nodded their direction.

"What's your question?"

"Are the examples of hallucinations provided comprehensive?"

"By no means. They represent the range of severity."

"How many different memories of Morpheus do you have?"

Daphne shrugged. "Hundreds."

"After only being exposed to the demon for several minutes?"

"Correct."

Another exorcist raised their hand and asked, "How long until the summoning lines are complete?"

"Less than a month. Days, maybe. Once the central mu is complete, fifth form semicapers will begin laying a circle to enclose the pentagram. Morpheus will be able to manifest afterward, though it may not be immediate."

"And we're just supposed to believe you?"

Daphne raised her eyes to the voice in the back, they flickered, searching, but could not find a target. Her lip curled up over her teeth when she spoke next.

"What's not to believe?"

Her response caused a general hubbub until Mephisto stepped forward. He held up his hands and the room went quiet.

"I can assure you all that Morpheus is very, very real. While I lack personal experience with the demon, I can feel its presence." He passed a meaningful gaze over the room. "It _is_ coming, and it _will_ be dangerous. Miss Lux is here on my invitation for exactly that reason."

Daphne started, staring at him in surprise. Mephisto continued unperturbed.

"Whether the lot of you like it or not, she is the _only_ person still alive with whom Morpheus has trafficked. Her word might as well be gospel." He turned to Daphne. "I will personally guarantee her qualification."

Shocked, Daphne stood stock still and held Mephisto's gaze. The demon king just smiled, though it looked a hair less smug than it usually did. The murmuring of the rest of the exorcists still had not stopped, though. Shura whirled around in her seat on the far end of the front row and hollered over her shoulder.

"She hasn't steered us wrong yet. Think of the casualties we could have had dealing with the semicapers without knowing what she knows."

"And think of the casualties if she's wrong!"

Shura's face turned red, and her mouth opened to probably cuss the guy out, but Shiemi stood up in the middle of the classroom.

"Miss Lux is my friend. She wasn't obligated to help us and she did. This has all been so hard for her and it isn't fair not to trust her now."

"What isn't fair is to ask us to trust a perfect stranger!"

That started a whole commotion. Everybody was yelling at each other in a snap, some people rising up out of their seats, others following after them. Rin glanced at Daphne to gauge her reaction and caught the tail end of her drawing Helen of Troy from the back of her next. The next second, she'd hurled the boomerang at the light fixture in the center of the classroom and it connected with a shower of sparks and caused a momentary blackout. The room cried out in surprise, then shut up when the lights flickered back on and Daphne was glaring at them, Castor and Pollux drawn.

"I don't give a rat's ass about anyone's opinion. If you want to take it up with me, I'll be more than happy to fight." The exorcists shifted, uncomfortable with the weight of the challenge. Daphne pointed at the map of semicaper attacks. "Morpheus will manifest as soon as the circle around the pentagram is complete. In the meantime, I suggest we start an evacuation."

* * *

Murmuring, the other exorcists cleared out of the room at the end of the meeting. Daphne sat in a seat at the front. Her hands were shaking and her breath came deep. She sheathed Castor and Pollux and recalled Helen of Troy from the ceiling to sheath the sickle as well. After a moment, Rin appeared behind her, a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him.

"I'm sorry," she said.

He shook his head. "No, I think they needed a wake-up call. And the light won't be expensive."

Daphne looked down once more. "It's just… It's Afghanistan all over again. I don't…I don't want to lose anyone this time."

Rin pulled up a chair and sat in front of her, taking her hands in his own. He held on for a moment before lifting them to his mouth and kissing her knuckles.

"I was worried what you might think of me for saying this, but…" He took a deep breath in. "I don't want to lose anyone either. Especially you. And this—this demon thing? Your aura and my flames? It's going to take everything we've got to fight Morpheus, and I'm scared that losing you is exactly what's going to happen."

Daphne's heart twisted. That was what had been bothering him all day. He was anxious about the possibility of turning himself into a full-fledged demon, and rightly so. She couldn't even begin to comprehend what that kind of fear must have felt like, but she knew what it was to be afraid. To be afraid of demons and feel powerless in the face of them. She still was. It was why she'd reacted the way she had only moments ago. Yet, Rin understood. Though he didn't truly comprehend her reality any better than she comprehended his, he understood. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him.

"I'm scared, too," she whispered.

Some of the tension went out of him on a breath and he hugged her back. They held onto each other for a moment. When Daphne pulled away, she kissed him and he kept her close when she started to move away. His kisses were so pure. They always had been. Maybe that was a silly word to describe it, but Daphne had always felt that nothing tempered his display of affection. Not lust, not desire, not anything outside of absolute love. It was an honor to be kissed like that.

"Tomorrow let's start working on research," he said. "The sooner we can get a handle on this thing, the better. Those summoning lines could finish any day."

She nodded. "I agree."

Maybe it was crazy, but she really did trust him.


	36. Part 36

Early that Friday morning, Rin and Daphne left for True Cross and made their way down to one of the most secure practice gyms all the way in the basement, several levels underground. They stretched, did a couple of warm ups, dimmed the lights to see the aura and the flames better, and set an alarm to go off in time for Daphne to get to class and Rin to check in for work.

"You're the research expert," Rin said, stretching his arm across his chest one more time. "How do we start?"

"Well." Daphne was quiet for a moment while she thought. "According to Mephisto, your flames use my aura as fuel, and you can't start a fire and _then_ add wood." She drew Castor and Pollux from her shoulders in a flash, both swords making that distinctive _whoosh_ sound as she brought them down to bear in front of her, going into an attack stance out of muscle memory or instinct. It was beautiful. "Just draw Kurikara and pay attention to how it feels— _wait_."

She sheathed her blades and the aura shut off.

"Okay, _now_ draw Kurikara and pay attention to how it feels. You won't be as aware of the difference if we don't have a control. My mistake."

Rin raised his eyebrows to make double-sure she was ready and Daphne motioned at him, chuckling.

"Go ahead," she said.

He drew Kurikara, closing his eyes and for the first time really focusing on what the unleashing of his demon power felt like. It was warm, sort of like water about to boil, and it sparked hottest on his head and washed downward. The whole ears and fangs and tail thing had never really felt like a "transformation," more like revealing the true nature of what he was. Like taking off a baseball cap and actually being bald underneath—only not like that at all. He opened his eyes and looked at Daphne.

"Normal enough, I guess," he said.

"Okay, sheath it."

He did and she drew Castor and Pollux.

"Draw."

If the sensation had been water about to boil _without_ Daphne's aura, it was fully rolling about to boil over _with_ it. He hadn't really noticed the difference in the past, having unleashed the power while other things demanded his attention—things like semicapers and ghouls and stupid sparring matches organized by Mephisto. The familiar strengthening of his flames and the increase in dexterity accompanied the amplified heat.

"Do _you_ feel different?" Rin asked, looking at Daphne.

She shrugged. "Sheath Kurikara and draw it again and I'll pay more attention this time."

Daphne shut her eyes; Rin sheathed the blade.

"Tell me when you're going to draw."

Rin counted down from three. Blue flames, that same augmented heat, and Daphne opened her eyes, shaking her head.

"Let's try it the other way…"

So she put away Castor and Pollux and then drew them but the effect was still the same—Daphne couldn't feel anything and Rin's flames were the only thing that seemed to change. They spent the next twenty minutes running experiments like that, changing distance between them, changing timing drawing at the same time then a couple minutes apart. It seemed that the closer Rin was to Daphne, the stronger the effect on his flames, but at the same time, if he focused from a distance, he could still draw some of her aura's power. It was almost instinctual, like a law of nature. A fire would seek out anything it could burn.

They were on opposite sides of the room running a time and distance combination test when Rin almost unintentionally sought out more to burn.

"Nn."

The sound from Daphne accompanied a sharp intake of breath.

"I felt that," she said next.

"You—what?"

Felt that? Felt _what?_ He'd felt something too—more heat, maybe. He wasn't sure. Honestly, he didn't even know what had changed, or how he'd prompted that change if he'd had anything to do with it, and he said as much when Daphne asked him what he'd done.

She started swiftly across the room. "Try it again."

"No, no, wait—"

But Daphne was already halfway over, so Rin panicked and slid Kurikara back into its case. The blue light that had filled the room was gone immediately and Daphne halted in the middle of the ring.

"Please don't do that," Rin said. "Please. God. I'm still so scared of this, Daph."

He hadn't noticed until that second how furiously his heart was beating in his chest. He could even feel it in his forehead. The flames had found further access to Daphne's aura, of that much he was certain. Proximity made the effect grow stronger, so anything could have happened if she'd walked right up to him. He tried not to linger too long on the image of a dead, dismembered Daphne that came to mind.

Suddenly she was right in front of him. Rin jumped.

"You set all the terms from here, Rin," she said and slid her swords into her shoulders. "You choose the steps. If you want."

Rin stared at her. He searched her face, but he didn't know what he was looking for. His pulse was still elevated. Maybe it was comfort, maybe that's what he was hoping to see reflected in Daphne's eyes but that wasn't what was there. What was there was steadiness, solemnity. Hers was the gaze of a person who had seen and suffered unspeakable things and so no longer held any emotion resembling fear. She felt she had already seen the worst. It wasn't long ago that those eyes had held nothing _but_ fear.

Funny how people traded places like that.

"I don't want to make decisions by myself," Rin said softly. "I never want to be the only one making decisions."

Daphne gave a single nod. "All right," she replied, then went quiet, waiting for him to reach his own conclusions.

"I just…We don't know what's going to happen. I think we should take it slowly…"

He didn't know when he'd looked down, but Daphne was lifting his chin in her hand to get him to meet her eyes once more. He did so reluctantly. Daphne smiled, but the expression was a little sad.

"We can do this," she said. " _You_ can do this. You're the goddamn half-demon son of Satan who not only somehow manages to enjoy day-to-day life, but is also a kickass exorcist. There aren't very many other people who could do what you've done, Rin. Not everyone is that strong."

Daphne Lux was calling _him_ strong? The person who had come out of years of abuse and trauma guns blazing ready to fight? He opened his mouth to object, but she knew where he was headed and moved the hand holding his chin to cover his lips.

"Don't you dare say that you're not strong. I will walk out of this room right now and never look back."

She let her hand fall. Rin closed his mouth. Daphne smiled at him again, running her hands down the length of his arm to take hold of his. A deep breath entered and exited her nose.

"I'm ready when you are," she said.

Rin nodded, but was still processing, his mind still turning over and over, so he told it to shut up and shut his eyes and focused on the feeling of Daphne's hands in his. Her fingers were cold, her touch was gentle. He wondered for a moment what his life might have looked like now if she hadn't come to Japan, if she'd chosen to stay in the U.S. and the army. Morpheus would still be coming. Mephisto would still be pulling all kinds of strings. It was pretty likely that Daphne would have been called in to assist with the manifestation regardless of her own personal decisions. The crossing of their paths had been kind of inevitable. He was just glad it had shaken out like this.

"I'm ready," he said.

Daphne took a step back, then several more to put some distance between them. Then she drew her blades. She gave Rin a nod, so he brought out Kurikara. What had he been thinking about that first time Daphne had said she'd felt something? Had he been thinking anything at all? Then he remembered.

He'd caught a glimpse of the light of Daphne's aura as she'd shifted and the halo had refracted rainbows all around her. In that moment he'd noticed for the first time how the colors in that rainbow were lighter than a normal one, and how the blue was the same shade as the new color of his flames. He looked up, right across at Daphne, and as she took a neutral stance and her feet settled into position, the movement made the rainbows shift into momentary visibility. Rin caught sight of the blue and the reaction was instantaneous.

The increased heat that he'd once felt everywhere doubled and focused intensely in his mouth, on his teeth. With a burst, the flames surrounding him grew larger, forming into a column that stood easily four or five feet above his head. Above his head— _holy shit_ —were those _horns?_ At the back of his mind a once-familiar tugging suddenly turned into a massive pull, so strong that Rin turned around instinctively. In the corner of his eye, a pair of goat feet shot out of view, and just when he started to feel a roar building in the back of his throat, energy mounting toward another tug, he sheathed Kurikara and the room went dark again.

Dark, dark. Like, Daphne's aura had shut off as well. Rin went running in her direction immediately, already assuming the worst, but before he could get halfway to her, the halo returned. Daphne was upright, breathing. That breath came heavily, but holy shit, at least she was _alive_. Regardless, Rin didn't stop running. He practically collided with her and wrapped her up in his arms.

"Are you okay? Did anything happen?"

"I'm fine, Rin," she laughed, breathless. He could feel her deep inhalations against his chest now. "It was exhausting but I'm fine."

Her skin was slick with sweat. So was her hair. He'd barely drawn any energy from her, and this was the result. He knew now, having dipped his toe in the water, how much deeper and unfathomable this pool actually was. What had just happened—the burning teeth, the horns, the flames, the stronger sense of Gehenna—that was nothing.

Somebody knocked on the door. Rin made sure Daphne was steady before walking over to pull it open. Yukio was standing on the other side, and he was nearly as sweaty as Daphne.

"You have _got_ to learn to keep your pager on you," he huffed.

Rin tensed. "Did we get a call?"

"Forth form semicapers," Yukio replied. "They just completed the rest of the mu."


	37. Part 37

Though she made a good show of looking calm and confident, Daphne hardly ever was anymore. She was an expert at subduing her fear, hiding it under a mask of nonchalance or intimidation. By the time she and Rin and Yukio arrived at one of the many forth form manifestation sites, her heartbeat had found its way into her mouth. Part of that might have been the exercise of running there coupled with the exhaustion of allowing her aura to fuel Rin's demon form, but either way she felt like she might pass out.

Someone handed her an earpiece. Shura and some of the other first class exorcists arrived. Someone else gave them a briefing on the situation. The mu summoning lines had been finished, but no fifth form semicapers had manifested yet. Daphne's head seemed to sway. Several buildings had been destroyed already, but civilian evacuation was eighty percent complete. The edges of her vision were fuzzy, shifting like waves. Exorcists were being sent in in teams of two to different portions of the secured area.

"Miss Lux, Mr. Okumura, we'll go ahead and send you in together."

Daphne's dizziness cleared in an instant wash of dread. She only had to glance at Rin to know he felt the same. They couldn't fight together. Not yet.

"No," she said quickly, cutting off the captain before he could continue. "No, send me in with Miss Kirigakure, please. The Okumuras should be partners right now."

Yukio was quick to agree, as was Rin, loading guns and swinging a sword down respectively as they both grabbed a posting assignment and hurried into the fray. Shura gave Daphne a sideways glance, but Daphne ignored her, keeping her gaze glued on the captain until he handed her an assignment as well.

"Southwest sector inside the barrier," he said. "There's a thick concentration there."

Daphne nodded. Shura winked and clicked her tongue. Both women drew their blades from their bodies and dashed through the opening in the Aria barrier, turning left and heading for the southwest corner.

"Something happen with Rin?" Shura asked as they ran.

"Not like that," Daphne replied. A street over, a blast of flames shot into the air, accompanied by echoic semicaper shrieking. Shouts of exorcists followed, indistinguishable under the whirring of one of the demons powering up another blast. Daphne and Shura kept running.

"Like what, then?"

Shura ducked under a shop sign hanging low on only one of its wires. Daphne jumped over the remains of a scattered food cart. The next blast from the semicaper on the street next to them sounded out, visible for a moment as they crossed a junction.

"I don't know how much I can say," Daphne replied. "I'm not sure if it's confidential."

"That sounds bad."

"Well, it's not _good._ "

Daphne didn't know what to think anymore. What a bizarre turn her life had taken. Wasn't she supposed to be in Japan teaching English? How in the hell had that turned into running through the streets with a bunch of exorcists killing semicapers? Ahead of them, a semicaper lumbered into view, both of its goat heads missing, the snake shrieking as two exorcists pursued it. Daphne and Shura dashed around it, dodging the swipes that it took at their heads and providing an opening for others to lop the snake off.

By then they'd arrived in their assigned section. High concentration was an understatement. The area was flooded with semicapers. They were on every corner, sliding out of the street still, setting buildings on fire. Among them, exorcists were making their best attempts to regroup and remove heads, but the effort was uncoordinated and sloppy. Many of the demons were wandering around with one or two heads missing already, but hadn't been fully exorcised. This wouldn't cut it when it came to fifth forms.

"Finish what you've already started, goddamn it!" Daphne yelled into the microphone attached to her earpiece. All the exorcists in the immediate range grimaced and covered their ears instinctively. "The more there are, the more will manifest. Kill the ones with missing heads _now._ "

The effect was instantaneous, Daphne and Shura falling into the mix themselves. To their left was a semicaper missing one of its goat heads. Shura went for the snake, Daphne went for the goat, and together they rammed it through the heart. A steaming mound of asphalt fell to the ground after the flash and heat wave that accompanied the demon's disappearance. They didn't pause to examine anything, moving on to the next nearest semicaper.

* * *

Rin and Yukio were still making their way back to their assignment in the far northwest corner. The barrier was long and narrow, so they had quite a ways to run, painfully ignoring all of the other exorcists and semicapers battling around them. The back end where they were headed was the last of the evacuation area, and Rin kept reminding himself that those people—the non-exorcists—needed his help more as he passed other Knights of the True Cross struggling to manage the increased speed and strength of the demons.

Yukio hadn't asked Rin about why he and Daphne hadn't wanted to fight together, but he was pretty good at guessing. And inferring the worst. He probably knew already, or at least had an inkling. The two of them moved quickly and efficiently, reaching the back corner before too long. Yukio entered the nearest building, calling for survivors while Rin stood guard on the street.

Things were far from quiet, the air full of that whirring sound the semicapers made, punctuated by the occasional burst of flames. Exorcists yelling orders and suggestions at each other. Yukio came barreling down the stairs, a family behind him, and together he and Rin ran them to the next exorcist who would lead them through the barrier to safety.

Yukio went into the next building. Rin took up his post at the front door.

"If you can hear me, come to the sound of my voice!" Yukio hollered, on the second floor now. "I'm an exorcist, and we'll get you to safety! If you can hear me…"

Motion on the street drew Rin's attention. He looked just in time to see a semicaper emerge from the road. A couple dozen yards away, near a group of exorcists who had just finished off their demon, this one's partner emerged as well. They went into attack mode. So did Rin.

He drew Kurikara from its scabbard having learned his lesson dealing with fourth forms before. The demon, who had been approaching him, came to a stop. Its snake head cocked to the side. Rin had never seen one do that before.

" _So it is true._ "

The hairs on the back of Rin's neck stood up and a wave of shivers went down his spine. Kuro had spoken to him a million times, other demons, too, but the sound of the semicaper's voice in his mind unsettled him. He hadn't expected it to talk. It caught him completely off guard, so he just stared at it with his mouth hanging open.

" _Such words fly round in Gehenna. Such rumors. Those of us who owe no allegiance to Satan are never certain what to believe._ "

The semicaper took a step toward him; Rin raised Kurikara, ready to attack. All three heads seemed to smile.

" _Σε γιγνώσκων χαίρω,_ " it said, then bowed deeply. " _Greetings, False Prince of Gehenna_."

Yukio bolted out the front door then, a couple civilians following behind. They screamed when they saw the semicaper, and Yukio shoved them back through the door, unclipping his gun and unloading five or six shots into the neck of one of the semicaper's goat heads immediately. The noise jolted Rin back, just in time to barely duck the arm of the demon as it swept forward, screaming. Flames erupted behind him, catching the hem of Yukio's uniform.

After taking two more shots, Yukio bent over to extinguish the flames. Rin shoved Kuirkara into the semicaper's leg to buy his brother some time. Turning, the goat head started to spill hot asphalt from its mouth onto Rin's sword and the wound in its leg. Some of the stuff landed on Kurikara, but the demon sword slipped free. Yukio straightened. He and Rin took on the semicaper together.

The thing didn't go down without a fight. Fourth forms were so much faster than Rin remembered, and he was breathing heavy, a deep scratch on his free arm by the time Yukio got the opportunity to shoot the thing through the heart. The building they'd been evacuating had been ignited in that time, pockets of hot asphalt sprayed from the goat heads littering the street as well. As the semicaper disappeared in the usual flash of heat, Rin thought maybe he could still hear its voice in his head.

 _Greetings False Prince of Gehenna_

 _Greetings False Prince of Gehenna_

* * *

It was seven hours before the area was clear of semicapers. In that time, twenty-four exorcists had been severely injured, twenty of them requiring immediate evacuation and hospitalization. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage had been done to the homes and businesses in the portion of True Cross Town unfortunate enough to be located under that section of the summoning lines. Thirty-two civilians had been injured, twenty-eight in critical condition, and three had died, among them a little girl whom Daphne had found under the rubble of a shop front. She carried her body out, laying her at the feet of the paramedics. She didn't even notice Rin until he was right in front of her.

"Daph! _Jesus…_ "

He had been running, but came to a stop at the sight of her. She _was_ a mess, covered in the white concrete dust of the building collapse, blood and sweat and dirt caked into it, running in dirty streams down her face and arms and clothing. A paramedic was bandaging a puncture wound in her upper arm while an exorcist Doctor treated the cut on her cheek from a semicaper.

Rin wasn't any better off. His coat was singed and so was his hair. A gash above his eyebrow had poured blood into his left eye, but the wound looked old and had mostly closed up. Bruises were just beginning to purple around his wrists. His right cheek was a little swollen. Doctors and paramedics started cleaning him immediately.

"You're all right?" Daphne asked. Her voice sounded dusty and distant and she coughed at the end of the sentence.

Rin nodded. "You?"

"Yeah…"

This was just the beginning. They were lucky the casualties had been so low. The first time she'd encountered Morpheus, they'd been in the desert. No sign of human civilization for miles and miles. They'd been able to keep it contained, keep the damage done within the military, losing only soldiers and harming only sand. Now to be in such a densely populated area, with so many homes and so many innocent bystanders…the feeling of the lightness of that little girl's body in her arms. Daphne put her face in her hands.

Rin sat down next to her, placed his arm around her waist. Someone draped an emergency blanket over their shoulders. A few tears cut clean trails down the dirt on Daphne's face.

"After this I don't think it will be hard to convince people to evacuate," Rin said softly.

"We don't know when the fifth form semicapers will manifest," Daphne replied. "Or when Morpheus will arrive after that. If it takes too long, even if people leave, they'll start to come back thinking it was a false alarm."

"We can only do our best."

Sniffing, Daphne nodded. She wiped her face and Rin pulled her closer. They sat without speaking for a long time, until the emergency responders urged them to go home. Daphne went with Rin and Yukio back to their apartment where Shiemi was waiting with tea and about to start dinner. She fussed over the three of them, and Shura, too, once she arrived. Thankfully they gave Daphne first dibs on the shower.

She turned on the water and let it run, waiting for it to get hot and leaning against the sink in the meantime. Her eyes stared blankly at the floor. That morning, in the practice gym with Rin, she'd watched as Rin's flames had exploded in size, as horns had grown out of his head, as every last one of his teeth had become pointed, as the very life energy in her veins was sucked out as fuel. She'd blacked out for a second after he'd sheathed Kurikara, but she could still remember the sight of him so vividly. So much blue.

A knock on the door startled Daphne back and she found the room was filled with thick steam. She almost couldn't see the mirror anymore.

"It's me," Rin said from the other side and Daphne pictured his mouth moving now filled with all those sharp teeth. "I brought you a towel. The ones in there are used."

"Thanks," Daphne replied somewhat blankly.

"I'll just leave it by the door."

She listened to him walk away, back down the hall. Once she was certain he'd gone, opened the door, reached out, and pulled the towel inside. She couldn't spend forever in the shower. Dinner would be ready soon.

* * *

Rin stirred the noodles in the pot so they wouldn't boil over. He wanted them to cook quickly since everybody was starving otherwise he would have just turned the heat down. Yukio came in, changed out of his uniform now. Daphne was still in the bathroom, though the shower was off. Yukio leaned against the counter next to the stove.

"Earlier," he said, "when you hesitated…was that semicaper bowing to you?"

Rin nodded. "He called me the false prince of Gehenna."

"What on earth does that mean?"

"Hell if I know," Rin replied with a shrug. "None of the others have ever spoken before."

"Everything is ready, Rin," Shiemi said, poking her head into the kitchen. "We're just waiting on those noodles."

Rin gave her a thumbs up. Shiemi's eyes flicked to Yukio.

"Will you help me set the table, Yuki?"

Yukio gave his brother a passing look, one that said they'd talk later, and he left, but Rin was not long by himself, Daphne coming in toweling off her hair, wearing some of his sweatpants and a t-shirt. She stopped behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her chin on his shoulder.

"With the attack we didn't get the chance to talk about what happened," she said.

"In the practice gym?"

"Mm-hm."

Truth be told, Rin didn't really _want_ to talk about it. He wanted to pretend like the whole thing had never happened, but he knew that wasn't an option. Things with the semicapers were only going to get worse. And he and Daphne couldn't spend the rest of time fighting on opposite sides of the field.

"We don't have to talk now," she said. "I just think that we should."

Rin nodded. "Me too."

Kissing his cheek, Daphne slipped away, heading into the other room and getting drawn into setting the table. Rin watched the noodles as they swirled around and around in the boiling water. A fuller demon transformation and a fourth form semicaper attack in the same day. He wasn't entirely sure he wanted to experience whatever was coming next.


	38. Part 38

The pale, dusty body of a lifeless little girl is lying in the street. The street is in Academy Town, then Kabul, then Salem, then she steps toward her and it is Japan again. She is lifting the girl's wrist, pressing two fingers against it, closing her eyes and praying for a pulse. She knows she won't find one, but the little girl stands up. Her face is Rhoda's. She turns to run. Behind her is a pack of human ghouls and she is in a train tunnel. Far away she can see blue, flickering light. She tries to draw her blades but they won't come out. The ghouls are upon her, grabbing at her throat and—

Daphne jolted herself awake, but it wasn't the end of the REM cycle, so her body stayed stiff in sleep paralysis. She couldn't move. She couldn't speak. This had only happened to her a few times before, right when she'd come home from Afghanistan and hadn't been able to stomach the nightmares.

Rin was right next to her, probably drooling onto his pillow though she couldn't turn over to look. Her throat felt tight and choked, but there was nothing she could do. She didn't even try to move after a minute or two, knowing that it was pointless. Daphne pushed away the image of the little girl's hands peeking through the rubble, but what replaced it was Rhoda as her skin slowly peeled back from the tips of her fingers while she screamed.

Twelve agonizing minutes passed. Daphne counted every second since she was facing Rin's digital clock. By the end of it she was frantically sending signals to her fingers and toes to wiggle so she would know when she was free and the second she felt one of them move, she drew in a sharp breath of relief, the sting of tears rising to her eyes.

Goddamn it, hadn't she gotten over this?

Movement slowly returned to her body. She worked the stiffness out carefully, flexing her feet, her hands, her wrists and ankles. Eventually she was free enough to roll onto her back. She stared at the ceiling in the dark and took one deep breath after another, but her heartbeat wouldn't ease. A hiccup of a sob she couldn't stop sneaked between her lips. She covered her mouth, but the tears fell when she closed her eyes.

"Daph?"

Instinctively, she responded to her name, turning her head to look at Rin who was awake now, his eyes open and shining bright blue. The swelling in his cheek had gone down, replaced now by a dull yellow bruise, and the bandage on the cut over his eye pulled slightly when his eyebrows drew together in concern.

"I'm sorry," Daphne whispered.

She could even see the bruises on his wrist when he reached a hand over to move her hair away from her forehead. The wound on her own arm had settled into a deep, aching pain.

Rin propped himself up on an elbow. "What for?"

"Waking you up," Daphne replied.

He shook his head. "That's all right."

She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath in through her nose and letting it out through her mouth. Rin needed her to be strong. He needed her to be steady. He had so much on his shoulders with the demon transformation on top of everything else. There wasn't time or a spare thought for her mental and emotional instability right now. She had to help him lift that burden, but how was she supposed to do it when she was weighed down by her own? And how was he supposed to lift his if he was trying to help her? The speculation brought a fresh round of tears to her eyes.

"Today sucked," Rin remarked and just the way he said it, like none of it was actually a big deal, made her laugh. "Right?"

Daphne nodded. "It did."

"And that's today. Tomorrow will be different. And there are going to be some sucky days in the future, too."

She looked at him and he smiled, though it was colored by the events of the day. Damn it, how did he do that? Even after growing horns and sprouting two rows of fangs and fighting semicapers all through the afternoon he still had it in him to smile. In that respect, they couldn't have been more different. Rin leaned over to touch a kiss to her mouth, then snuggled up next to her.

"You're gonna have to give yourself the okay to feel bad about crappy days, Daphne."

She snorted softly. "Do _you_ ever feel bad?"

"Of course I do."

She gave him a sideways glance. "Could have fooled me."

The only time she'd really seen him agitated or upset or worried that hadn't been directly related to her had had to do with the demon transformation, and even _that_ was indirectly related to her. She, on the other hand, had been a sobbing, crying, blubbering, and inconsolable mess more than once in front of him. It wasn't fair.

"It must be exhausting to put up with me," she said.

"I don't 'put up' with you, Daph. I never have."

"I thought I was done with the nightmares and the panic, but I guess I was wrong."

"Don't take this the wrong way—"

"Whatever follows _that_ sentence is guaranteed to get taken the wrong way."

"—but I don't think any of that was ever really going to go away."

Daphne stared at him. "What?"

Rin shrugged. "I don't know. Stuff like that doesn't just go away. It's not a cut you can put a bandage over and take off a week later and have nothing there. It's your _life_ , it's what _happened_ to you. That won't ever leave. So you have to learn to manage it. Obviously some days will be better than others."

Her eyes turned toward the ceiling. So much wisdom from someone so completely clueless. They were different in that regard as well—he so oblivious and wise, she too-aware and foolish. It was a wonder they'd managed to make a relationship work what with all the baggage both of them carted around.

Daphne drew in a breath. "Today sucked," she said.

Rin nodded. "It did."

She looked at him and managed to smile. In spite of the bruises, in spite of the bandages. There was so much bad in the world, but there was also so much good. She drew herself toward him, pressing a kiss to his lips, twining their legs together under the covers. She couldn't just ignore the good, and here was a very important good right in front of her face.

They settled down together, but even then Daphne couldn't fall back asleep. She waited until she was certain Rin was dead asleep, then carefully slipped out of his arms, grabbing a sweatshirt and her phone and heading downstairs. She took herself outside, but only went as far as the front stoop. Sitting down, Daphne looked up at the moon and the shadow of Academy Town and True Cross that loomed over the city this far down in the rings. It was quiet, the air chirping with crickets. The world was such a strange and lonely place at night, but Daphne had never minded it.

She opened the email app on her phone, waited for the inbox to refresh, and was relieved to find a reply from Father Michael once it finished loading. She clicked on the message.

 _Hey, kiddo._

 _Glad to hear from you, though I'm not thrilled about the news. Full demon transformation, huh? Heavy stuff. You're as good a researcher as any I know. Share your data with me. Take videos. Those are better. I'll see what I can rustle up._

 _You know your limits. Don't push them._

 _God's blessing on you both._

 _Call if you can._

 _Michael_

Whatever she'd been expecting, that wasn't it. Words of comfort, maybe? A paragraph or two about how everything would be fine and Mephisto was just making the whole thing up and that thing you both saw today wasn't actually real it was just an elaborate prank. Instead he wanted data, facts. At least he wanted to help.

Daphne clicked the button to lock her phone. The crickets were still chirping. The rest of the city was still sleeping. The world was still turning. People were still being attacked by demons day and night. Morpheus was still on its way. And ever the fact remained that her boyfriend had pointed ears, fangs, and a tail. She was going to walk back upstairs and sleep next to a demon.

Father Michael had been right. There _was_ no escaping Gehenna, but Daphne understood now how little that had to do with Rin. She'd been connected to Gehenna since she was two years old. There would be no escaping it no matter how hard she ran. At least now she could stand and fight with a capable partner at her side.

Getting up from the porch, Daphne went back inside. She shed the sweatshirt, dug a notebook and pencil out of one of the cupboards, and jotted down what she could remember of the trials she and Rin had run that morning. She also provided as detailed a description as she could manage of Rin's transformation and the way she'd felt during the process. Writing it all down was certainly a pain in the ass. Father Michael was right. Video would be better.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Happy New Year! I'm sorry it's short. I'm in the middle of a life-reorganization at the moment, so stick with me and I should be able to get some longer chapters out soon to bring this sucker home. Good news is I have an idea for what I'd like to do for the next one, so if you want more, PLEASE let me know so I will have outside pressure to write it! Also, if you have requests or suggestions, they are more than welcome. I want to deliver what you guys want to see. Here's to hoping 2017 will be a more merciful year than this last one. See you on the other side!_


	39. Part 39

A couple Saturdays ago, Rin had probably been sleeping in like a lazy ass and getting dressed late, maybe going out with Daphne in the evening, but that routine was long gone now. That morning there was no time for cartoons or cereal and definitely no time for sleeping in. Mephisto had sent out a suggested evacuation order—non-mandatory but recommended—to all the students of True Cross Academy, though it didn't apply to all of Academy Town, and it didn't apply to the pages or exwires. Daphne muttered under her breath about it the whole way to the school and her first actual blade bonding class.

"…goddamn demon king can travel through space-time but he can't get out a city-wide evacuation order? What kind of piece of sh—"

"There're my two favorite lovebirds!" Shura exclaimed, pouncing on them both and swinging her arms around their necks like she was trying to strangle them to death. "How are you? When's the big day? Should I expect my first godchild in nine months or eight?"

Daphne gave her a straight-out glare in response, one sharp enough to prompt Shura to remove her arm and let Daphne stomp away up the stairs into the school.

"Eight months, then," Shura whispered and Rin slapped her arm. "Ow!"

"Knock it off."

" _You_ knock it off. It was only a joke."

Rin shook his head. "Daphne's definitely not in a mood for jokes," he said, starting up the stairs after her, Shura falling into step alongside him. "And it's probably not a good idea to piss off the teacher right before class."

"Eh," was all Shura had to say for herself. She shrugged and was quiet until they reached the top of the stairs. "That reminds me, what happened between you two? Why didn't you want to be paired together yesterday?"

Rin opened his mouth to respond, but Katsumi called to him from across the square, waving and jogging over when he saw them both.

"Okumura-sensei!"

"I'll tell you later," Rin said to Shura, and smiled at his student as the young exwire arrived in front of them. Katsumi grinned back.

"I'm glad this class didn't get cancelled after what happened yesterday," he said. "I'm kind of excited to learn blade bonding."

Rin just smiled awkwardly and nodded, not in the least bit excited to learn blade bonding himself. Of course, Katsumi's understanding of the technique extended to Daphne's creepy lectures and the demonstration she and Rin had accidentally given when forced to spar by Mephisto. It only followed that he thought it would be good. And maybe it would be. Rin just didn't know anymore.

"Welp, let's get this shit show started," Shura said and slapped both of them on the shoulder before heading into the gym. Hiriko and the other three exorcists with demon blades arrived not much later and Daphne ran them all through a series of warmups before asking them all to draw their weapons.

"A demon sword has a spirit," she said, removing Helen of Troy from her own neck and holding it out in her hands for them to see. "A connection with your blade is similar to that between a Tamer and their familiar. Each blade is unique. Close your eyes. Feel the energy you exchange with your blade. Try to identify that spirit."

Rin did as he was told, but it all seemed a little like mystic mumbo jumbo if he was being honest. Kurikara was a piece of metal. Sure, he felt connected to it, but it also had his demon power sealed inside it so how could he _not?_ Did the blade have a spirit other than his? By the end of this was he going to be able to slide Kurikara through his neck like Daphne could do with Castor and Pollux? Would he be able to send the sword flying a couple of feet and then summon it back to his hand? That would be pretty sweet. Then he got distracted imaging what Hiriko would look like throwing and recalling that gigantic blade she carried and the rest of the class had moved on before he'd even opened his eyes.

Daphne taught them the basic stances, moved them through a few different motion series, then encouraged them to practice and spend a lot of time between now and next Saturday meditating with their blades to connect to their spirits. But that was it. As pertinent as this stuff was now, what with Morpheus and all, Rin had been thinking they would have progressed a little farther than _stances._ They'd need as many blade bonders as they could get their hands on. At the moment, that number was stuck at one.

"Miss Nakahara," Daphne said as the class packed up, and Hiriko looked her direction, immediately concerned. "May I speak with you?"

Hiriko nodded and Daphne drew her aside. Shura punched Rin's shoulder as she left, but he ignored her, listening instead to what Daphne had to say to their student.

"I saw you connect with your blade," she said, and Hiriko regarded her with that same surprised look of fear. "Your face changed."

Hiriko looked down. "Hayate was forged during a blood ritual. Several of my ancestors died to create the blade. It's…it's just so violent…"

Her hands had started to shake, but Daphne took hold of them.

"It's all right to be afraid," she said. "Never let your fear control you."

"I try, Lux-sensei."

"I know. Just sit with your blade this week. Spend as much time getting familiar as you can. Soon it won't seem so scary."

Hiriko nodded and Daphne smiled and let the girl go. Once they were alone, she turned her gaze to Rin and drew in a deep breath, then let it out through her mouth.

"You wanna run a few more tests?" she asked.

"I don't think I can learn to blade bond," Rin replied, which wasn't really an answer, but the thought had been bugging him.

"Why not?"

He shrugged. "I just don't get this whole 'spirit' thing you're talking about. I don't think Kurikara has one."

Much to his surprise, Daphne laughed out loud.

"What?"

"You're already bonded with Kurikara, Rin. I told you that."

" _When?_ "

"Forever ago, one of our first meetings about having a blade bonding class." She shook her head, chuckling still. "Honestly. You should still meditate with it, though. It will give you a better sense of the connection you already share."

"Mediation's not really my strong point…"

Daphne grinned. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Knock, knock~!"

Mephisto's unmistakable voice somehow managed to precede his equally unmistakable aura, but Rin guessed that probably came with the territory of being king of time. The demon appeared in the doorway, waving at them both and Daphne bristled instantly. Mephisto noticed of course, but he only smiled like he always did when he pissed Daphne off.

"I thought I might sit in," he trilled.

"Class just ended," Daphne spat.

"On your _study session_ , Miss Lux."

Rin suddenly remembered that the conversation he and Daphne were supposed to have had about what happened during the first "study session" hadn't happened yet, and seeing Mephisto he also remembered something that semicaper had said to him the day before.

"Yeah right like we need—"

"I think he should stay, Daph."

She cut herself off mid-snarl to stare at Rin in surprise. He shrugged apologetically.

"This is way beyond us. Maybe Mephisto can help."

Mephisto, meantime, had placed his hand over his heart and was now wiping what looked like a fake tear away from one of his eyes saying, "My dear baby brother, I am truly touched. To think that—"

"Don't make me regret it," Rin growled.

Mephisto winked. "I make a point never to regret anything."

With a snap of his fingers he summoned his chair and flopped down into it. At least they wouldn't be dragging Daphne through the space-time rift again. She still didn't look happy about his staying, though. Actually, she looked pretty damn angry, so Rin took a seat on the floor and tried to ignore the fiery gaze pointed his direction.

"I've looked over your data, Miss Lux," Mephisto said, "and I daresay it's quite promising."

Rin nearly swallowed his tongue. "You sent him _data?_ "

"I cc'd him on the email I sent Father Michael this morning," Daphne replied. "I was hoping that by doing that, it might encourage him to keep his pointy nose out of our business."

"Oh, but this is my business as well, Miss Lux," Mephisto replied. "Like it or not."

"I realize that."

"So I'll be sticking my pointy nose wherever I please."

"Get fresh with me again and I'll cut your head off."

Smiling, Mephisto sat back. After a moment, he waved his hand at the two of them.

"Get on with it, then," he said. "I'll be quiet."

Daphne glared at Mephisto for a minute while he smiled, his lips sealed, until she decided he was going to keep his word. Then she drew Castor and Pollux and walked to the far side of the gym, gesturing at Rin to go the opposite direction.

"Let's just pick up where we left off," she said.

"You want to go straight to that?" Rin gaped. He'd been about to draw Kurikara, but surprise halted his hands.

"We're already warmed up. It's what Mephisto's here to see. It's what dangerous, so we should just cut the crap and deal with it."

Her aura refracted a few brief rainbows as Rin stared at her. He couldn't guess how she was feeling. She'd wanted to talk, but there hadn't been time. What was it like for her being on the other end of this? She knew how worried he was, and had said a hundred times how she trusted him. Maybe he was reading too much into it. Maybe she'd wanted to have some kind of scientific discussion for her notes and Father Michael. Maybe the researcher, not the girlfriend, was the one who'd wanted to talk. Rin glanced at Mephisto. The demon king nodded.

As Rin drew Kurikara, the blue light filled the room. He brought the blade down to bear, taking deliberate and deep breaths. Probably staying calm was a good idea. If he was calm, maybe he'd be able to control the transformation more easily.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"Yes," Daphne replied.

At least drawing on Daphne's energy needed to be deliberate, but then, as he picked out the blue in her rainbow and focused on it and the fuel burning began, he realized how small and insignificant and _easy_ it was to get the whole thing started. In the heat of a battle it would be mindlessly simple just to glance at her and activate the power. He'd have to learn to be careful. They still didn't know what this could do.

The flames grew brighter, hotter, almost white, but returning to an icy blue in a flash of pressure and heat. A warm gust of wind shot around the room, too, as the flames towered into the air. Rin focused a little harder and suddenly his mouth was burning, like it had the first time, and he felt distinctly as each of his teeth filed into deadly points. More focus and the massive, twisting horns spiraled up over his head.

He felt the pull of Gehenna so strongly then that he fell back a step. So much dark energy swirled around him, grasped at his legs and, for lack of a better word, his _soul_ as well. Like somebody, or a lot of somebodies, were trying to drown him, or pull him under. It wasn't entirely dissimilar to being stuck waist-deep in the Gehenna Gate. In his heart, a powerful and sudden lust for blood began to stir. He fought it down.

"I think we should stop, Daph," he called, looking for her and realizing for the first time that the whole world was dyed in shades of blue and black. Daphne was just a pale blur in the shape of an oval, in the shape of her aura. The blood lust strengthened. Food. Fuel.

Instead of responding, Daphne took a step forward. The column of flames above Rin's head grew taller. Something yanked on his heart, something that told him to bolt forward and consume her completely.

"Daph!"

He didn't know how much longer he could control it. She took another step forward. Christ, what was she doing? He would've backed up, but he didn't dare move. If he moved he wouldn't be able to stop himself. Another step. His tail grew longer as a result of her proximity.

"Daph, stop!"

At once the world returned to normal. Regular colors came back. Regular light, too. That desperate darkness that had been clawing at Rin's heart disappeared. Daphne had sheathed her blades.

She doubled over, her hands on her knees, her breath coming in audible exhalations. Her hair was slick with sweat, her skin shining. When she looked up, she was pale and drained.

"That's all…I could sustain," she said. "But I think…if we practice…it will get easier." She wiped her nose and straightened up. "I need to go cool off." She left the room in a dripping, sweaty sweep before Rin could even react.

Then he was alone with Mephisto.

Mephisto shook his head. "That was magnificent."

Rin sheathed Kurikara and collapsed on the floor, breathing hard. He could feel Mephisto's eyes on him, but he didn't want to look. It felt like Mephisto was smiling. Was this what it _actually_ meant to be a demon king? To be the son of Satan? Was this the kind of power demons like Mephisto wielded? That bloodlust… Rin wasn't sure this was something he wanted to deal with.

"I have a question," Rin said.

"It follows that I am likely to have an answer," Mephisto replied. Rin had more than earned the right to hear it given that last display.

"Yesterday…" he started, "one of the semicapers called me the 'False Prince of Gehenna.'" He let his head loll over to look at Mephisto. "Any idea what that means?"

"Bolsheviks."

"What?"

"Revolutionaries. Common demons possessed of power seeking to overthrow the royal right to rule. Though perhaps _dimokratis_ might be a better term…"

"Seriously, what the hell are you talking about?"

"The semicapers are demons who want a republic. Satan has asserted himself as the ultimate being in Gehenna, so it would stand to reason that others would challenge his power. There are of course factions who desire change." Mephisto smiled. "Perhaps you'd understand if you paid a visit every once in a while."

Rin rolled his eyes. "You're one to talk."

"Morpheus represents one such faction. The semicapers are its kin, so to speak."

"Oh… You've known about them for a long time, haven't you?"

"Political unrest does not go easily unnoticed by the second most powerful being in Gehenna," Mephisto replied.

Daphne came back then, her hair dripping wet. She looked like she'd stuck her head under a faucet and let the water run until she was soaked. Coming to a stop next to Rin and in front of Mephisto, she put her hand on her hip and glanced at both of them.

"Any thoughts?"

"You make a beautiful and most powerful weapon, Miss Lux," Mephisto answered.

"Yeah, yeah, another sparkling trophy to put up on your shelf. I don't give a shit. We need to work together. No more games. If you want me to use this power to your advantage, I want your cooperation in return."

"Understood."

Daphne folded her arms. "Do you know when Morpheus will manifest?"

"I don't have the particulars, but it will be soon."

"Then Rin and I will work on getting this under control. In the meantime, I want an evacuation order to go into effect. Everyone non-exorcist out of the way."

"I do not rule this city, Miss Lux."

"You're not fooling anyone."

Mephisto's lips curled up, his nose crinkling in that way it always did when he found someone especially amusing.

"Very well, then."

"Thank you."

Standing up, Mephisto dismissed his chair with a snap and then bowed to the two of them. "We ought to get to work," he said, and, winking, strolled out of the gym.

Daphne turned to Rin once he was gone. "I didn't mean to push you," she said and took a seat in front of him. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to see what my limits were."

"I think those were my limits, too," he replied. "I…I really felt like I wanted to kill you, Daph."

She reached over and took his hand. "We'll go slow from here."

"You're not scared?"

"Of you?" Sitting up onto her knees, Daphne leaned forward to give him a peck on the cheek. "No."

Rin smiled, his heart warming and melting away a bit of the darkness that he could now recognize roosted there on the regular. Drawing on Gehenna would mean more than increased power to learn to control, it would also mean learning to control different, darker emotions. Thankfully he had the queen of learning to control dark emotions sitting right in front of him.

"I think we should get some lunch before we do anything else," Daphne said.

And she could practically read his mind.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Hi, hi! Happy 2017! Long chapter this week, so I hope you enjoyed it. For clarity's sake, I thought I should mention that when I said I had an idea for "the next one" I meant a second Rin-Daphne Blue Exorcist fic. (Maybe even a third, but god help us all.) If you want a sequel, please tell me. Though I really ought to focus on finishing this one before I give another any thought. *sheepish grin*_


	40. Part 40

Halfway through their meal, Rin suddenly looked up and slammed a fist down on the table, letting the ramen he'd had in his mouth slurp back down into the bowl. He looked like he'd had an epiphany, but Daphne couldn't be sure, so she just watched, her eyebrows drawn quizzically together while Rin chewed in order to speak.

"You know what I just realized?" he said, losing a couple of shortened noodles. "The weird shadow thingy, the one that let us know where the other was going to go, we haven't been able to get it up since that first time."

" _Word choice,_ Rin."

"No, no—sorry—but, I mean, don't you think that's weird?"

It seemed to Daphne that far stranger things had happened since then. Turning into more of a demon would probably rank above not being able to activate a particular power in anyone's book of weird things. All the same, though, it was odd that they hadn't been able to summon the shadows at least once.

Rin seemed to tack onto her train of thought. "Why did it only happen that one time?"

She shook her head. "Maybe it isn't location or emotional state. Maybe it's got more to do with external circumstances."

"Like how?"

"Like maybe it happened that first time because there were actual stakes." She shrugged. The idea sounded stupid now that it was out in the open. "We were fighting for a reason, not just to spar or study."

Thinking, Rin nodded and stirred his ramen contemplatively. "Or maybe it only happened because that was when your aura and my flames first met."

"Aw, how sweet."

"Shut up."

Daphne laughed. "Either way, I don't think that should be our primary focus."

The statement sobered the mood right up. Rin knew well enough without her saying what their primary focus should be. She really _had_ pushed him. More than she'd realized. There had been an inkling of it in the gym, even more on their walk to the ramen place when Rin had unconsciously held her hand a little tighter and pulled her away from other people they'd passed on the street. Now the way he stared into his bowl, completely lost in his thoughts, and didn't even see the food there made her uneasy. Not because she was nervous, but because she felt a little guilty. She knew what it was like to be pushed.

"I really am sorry," she said. "For earlier. I told you I would let you set the terms, and I didn't."

"And I told you I didn't want to be the only one making decisions," Rin replied. He looked up from his bowl finally and offered a stunted smile. "Please don't apologize again."

Returning the smile, Daphne found his foot under the table and crossed her ankles over one of his. "I won't," she said.

They finished lunch and went back to the gym, spent the next few hours in endurance training, which couldn't have lasted much longer than it did because by the end of it both of them were so weak Rin's demon manifestation was barely an increase of flames and a couple extra-pointy teeth. They went back the next day and did more of the same until Father Michael called Daphne and she paused their practice to speak with him.

"Hey, kiddo," he said, waving and causing the video feed to pixelate with the terrible signal in the gym. "I looked over your data, and watched the videos from yesterday. How's it going?"

Daphne glanced at Rin who had taken the call as an opportunity to lie down on the ground, shut his eyes, and breathe deeply. He looked about ten seconds from the sleep of exhaustion. Daphne felt pretty close to it herself.

"We're not sure," she replied. "It's hard, but so far so good I think. Do you have any ideas, suggestions, theories?"

Father Michael made a face and shook his head. "Nothing new. I don't think your friend the demon king had any reason to lie about—"

"He's not my friend."

"Regardless. He wants to use the power, right?"

Daphne sighed. "For the record, I don't think Mephisto lied, either. But that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"From what I can tell, the data seems to support his theory. Your aura is a product and manifestation of Gehenna, and Rin can use it to enhance his flames. Beyond that, I think it's up to the two of you when and how to use it."

That wasn't at all what Daphne wanted to hear. But Father Michael hadn't been telling her what she wanted to hear for some time now. She wasn't a little girl anymore. She wasn't his student. She was an exorcist who would have ranked Senior First Class if she'd still been an official member of the Knights of the True Cross. It was time for her to start standing on her own again.

"Do you think the aura exists because my temptaint from Morpheus strengthened the spirits in my blades?"

"That seems like a reasonable conclusion."

Daphne nodded.

"What are you working on now?"

"Strength training," Daphne replied. "We're building our endurance to Rin burning my aura."

"Don't say it like that," Rin piped in from the floor. "That makes it sound like I'm a fire."

"You _are_ a fire."

"But not like that."

Daphne made a face at Father Michael on the screen and the man chuckled.

"You picked him," he said.

Daphne rolled her eyes. "I know."

They chatted for a few more minutes about the possibility of using blade bonding techniques to shore up Rin and Daphne's energy reserves against the demon transformation, then said their goodbyes. Daphne returned her phone to her bag and sat cross-legged next to Rin on the floor. He was still breathing deeply. She reached out to place her hand over his stomach.

"Let me know when you're ready," she said.

On Monday it was back to the usual business. School during the daytime throughout which Daphne felt oddly dissociated. Her students had started to talk about the upcoming evacuation order, complain about it, wonder what it was for and how long it would last. She stood at the front of the class and had more information that those kids would ever have wanted to know, and she had no choice but to keep it all to herself. By the end of the school day, she was absolutely writhing to be around other exorcists and speak freely.

The Japan Branch of the Knights of the True Cross was in full swing getting ready for the Morpheus manifestation. Semicaper activity had slowed to a dead halt since the forth form attack. Daphne knew well enough that this was in preparation for the completion of the summoning lines by fifth forms, and so did everyone else. Thankfully they'd been able to set up a fairly secure perimeter, watched round-the-clock by exorcists, in the areas along the anticipated circle to enclose the mu and the pentagram. When the time came, maybe they'd be able to keep damage to a minimum.

Rin told Shura and Shiemi about the work he and Daphne were doing, and the power they'd uncovered, over dinner that night. Shiemi was shocked; Shura was curious. The former blushed and stuttered and apologized for the difficult time they must have been having while the latter asked a lot of probing questions. Kuro wandered in midway through the conversation and fell into the knowledge that way, though he didn't seem phased by it in the least.

Eventually Kuro fell asleep and Yukio offered to walk Shiemi home and Shura headed out along with them after a few beers. Shiemi gave both Daphne and Rin bone-crushing hugs before she went, her eyes filling up with tears so that she had to turn away to hide it. As the three of them headed down the street, Daphne thought maybe she heard Yukio scolding Shiemi for the show of emotion, but she wasn't sure.

The house was quiet after that. She and Rin took care of the dishes in comfortable silence, and Daphne smiled to herself the whole time, fully realizing then that Rin didn't hide his tail at home, and how strangely endearing she found that fact.

"Are you free to train some more tomorrow after school?" Rin asked, setting the last dish on the rack to dry.

Daphne nodded. "Between that and the blade bonding class for Knights without demon swords, yeah."

"Can I come to that class, too?"

She laughed, stepping up close to him and wrapping her arms around his neck. "Of course, Rin."

He just hugged her in response, and she hugged him back, brushing her fingers gently through his hair until he was ready to let go. As they parted, she gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"I'm gonna take a quick shower," she said and headed to the bathroom.

Daphne stood in the stream of water and let her mind go blank, let Morpheus and the semicapers and blade bonding and exorcism all slip down the drain with the soap suds. She shut her eyes, breathed in the steam. They'd be ready. She was strong. They were stronger together.

When she got out she put on a pair of Rin's old pajamas, cinched the drawstrings on the bottoms as tight as they would go, and wrapped her hair up in a towel. It had been a long time since she'd washed it in holy water, but it would probably be wise to start doing that again, or to cut it, or wear it in a permanent bun. It paid to be prepared. She weighed the pros and cons as she toweled it off, heading back to Rin's room. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, his chin in his hands and his elbows braced on his knees, when she got there.

"You look pensive," she said.

Rin just raised an eyebrow at her.

"Thoughtful," she clarified.

"Oh." His gaze unfocused again out across the floor. "Yeah, I guess. Mephisto told me something weird about how the semicapers and Morpheus were revolutionaries trying to overthrow Satan and the demon kings or whatever, and I was just thinking, maybe it's not an accident that the manifestation is going to take place over Academy Town."

"You think they're making a move against Mephisto?"

Rin nodded. "Exactly. And I think he's been planning how to deal with it for a while."

Daphne's heart beat once and sent a wash of ice through her veins. Her. Her job. Morpheus was the reason Mephisto had offered her a job. The thought was chilling. He'd had his hands on the puppet strings from the very beginning.

"You okay?" Rin asked.

She snapped back to attention and shook her head to clear the fog. "Yeah, sorry. It's just…kind of frightening to think about."

Rin shrugged. "Welcome to the last eleven years of my life."

Taking a seat next to Rin, Daphne placed an arm across his back and tucked her head against his shoulder. She was quiet for a moment, thinking through what it must have been like to have been like to be a teenager under Mephisto's thumb. She could barely stand it now and she'd been dealing with authority her whole life. Something about him just rubbed her the wrong way. Eventually she sighed.

"I think I'm going to have to cut my hair."

"What? Why?"

"It's getting too long. And I can't wash it in holy water anymore because of you."

She lifted her head and he was looking at her with an expression of genuine dismay.

"It's pretty, though," he said. "I like it long."

Chuckling, she laced her fingers with his and pressed closer, kissing his cheek. "Maybe, but I think you like my head attached to my neck a little better than being decapitated by a semicaper."

"Do they do that?"

"I remember that," she replied. "Whether they actually do or not remains a mystery."

Rin studied her for a moment, searching her eyes, concern pulling his brows together. She offered a small smile in return.

"I'm all right, Rin. Really."

"Okay."

He smiled a little himself and wrapped a hand around the side of her neck to give her a kiss, which turned into another, and another.

"I guess—" A kiss. "—I'd better enjoy it while I can," he said, and kissed her again.

"Hm, yeah..."

She wrapped her arms around him, kissing long and deep, running her hands through his hair and eventually down his back where she caught hold of the hem of his shirt.

"Couldn't you just…wear it in a braid?"

Daphne pulled away to press her hand into his chest and push him back onto the bed as she followed him down.

"Stop talking."


	41. Part 41

Daphne never would have thought the day would come when she'd say that she missed demon manifestations, but _she missed demon manifestations._ At first it had just been the semicapers that had stopped appearing, but gradually, as days went by, all demon activity in and around Academy Town slowed and then ceased completely. The Knights of the True Cross hadn't received a field call for a manifestation of any kind since early Wednesday morning, and it was Friday now. The whole thing was making Daphne incredibly uneasy, and it was having a similar effect on Rin.

"I think I can feel something building," he said during one of their practice sessions. "Especially when I burn your aura. There's some shit going down in Gehenna, I think."

It seemed to Daphne that there was _always_ some shit going down in Gehenna, but she kept the thought to herself. "Like revolution type stuff?"

Rin just shook his head. "I don't know. I can't tell the details."

The one positive about not having any demons to deal with was that exorcists could spend their time preparing for the imminent semicaper manifestation and assisting with the evacuation. Daphne taught both her blade bonding classes. Rin led a team of exorcists helping direct traffic. By Saturday night the city was pretty well empty of citizens who didn't qualify in one way or another as exorcists. Without school to teach during the day, and no exorcisms to perform, Daphne and Rin spent most of their time training.

No matter how many times she watched the horns sprout from Rin's head or the column of flames shoot up toward the ceiling, Daphne couldn't get used to it. She couldn't get used to the feeling of having the life sucked out of her to make it happen, either. The two of them were supposed to be building up endurance, and while they'd managed to extend the time Rin was able to enhance his demon form, they hadn't been able to enhance the enhancement. Rin didn't dare. He'd seen right through Daphne's trying to hide the toll it was taking on her body.

Saturday turned into Sunday, Sunday into Monday, and the week crawled by, most every second spent on high-alert, and every second spent on high-alert going completely unrewarded. People started to leak slowly back into the city, complaining that there had been no need for evacuation in the first place. The exorcists posted on the fifth form semicaper manifestation sites grew bored of keeping constant vigilance over empty space. Daphne's blade bonding students progressed to actual technique and almost half of them stopped showing up to class. They'd gotten to the painful bits. The bits Daphne hadn't been sure she'd be able to teach anyone in the first place.

"I think we should skip our training for tonight," Rin said after the others had gone.

"We can't afford to skip it, Rin," Daphne replied.

He gently took hold of her hand and rolled back the sleeve of her shirt to expose the yellow-purple bruises that had formed. Daphne pulled her hand away. Her body was covered in bruises like that.

"It's fine."

"It's not fine, Daph."

"We have to be ready. We have—"

"Part of being ready is being healthy, for Christ's sake!" Rin shouted. He didn't shout very often. "When Morpheus shows up, you can't be expected to fight him in the condition you're in."

Daphne looked at the ground. "What if Morpheus isn't coming?"

"If you think I haven't noticed—wait, what?"

"What if Morpheus isn't coming? What if none of it is real?"

"Please don't tell me that's what you're thinking, Daph."

She shrugged. She didn't know any more. So many of her nights had been spent huddled in terror, staring at things that were either there or not there—sometimes demon, sometimes hallucination, sometimes neither, and sometimes both—and wondering how much of her experiences were actually real. So many years of being called a liar by her mother, by her classmates. It was hard to shake that. She'd grown up in an environment that had tried to tear her down with every footstep. It was just as much a part of who she was as breathing.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I just want to be honest."

"Morpheus is coming, Daphne. I promise you it's real."

Finally, she looked up at Rin and smiled. "I don't know if that makes me feel better or worse."

* * *

 _Author's Note: Hi, hi, sorry, sorry! It's so short, I almost didn't want to bother posting, but here we are. I'm sorry for the hiatus, and to say that it's going to unfortunately continue a little while longer. I have been pulling extra shifts at work, and when I do actually have time to write, it has to go toward other, more demanding and important projects. But I promise you, promise you, that I will finish this story, so help me god. Thank you all for your support and patience! Cross your fingers for me._


	42. Part 42

Morpheus was, in fact, quite real, and it was, in fact, very much on its way. The time was drawing nearer, the enemy growing complacent. It was foolishness to attack when an enemy was fresh from preparations and buzzing with adrenaline. Foolishness to make your move when the enemy was ready to anticipate. Making them wait, making them sit, making them wonder long enough if you were ever going to come—that was wisdom. Wisdom Morpheus and its kin had learned eons before.

It wouldn't be long now. Not long before the oppression of Iblis would be thrown from their backs. Not long before the rest of the demon kings would tumble down as well.

They'd make their move against Samael and the False Prince in due time.

* * *

Another week went by and it was Tuesday night again. Life in Academy Town had pretty much returned to normal for everyone who wasn't an exorcist. School started up. People joked about the quarantine. Rin became one of more than a hundred exorcists sitting on their asses waiting for a demon manifestation to roll around. One never did. Instead the exorcists in the Japan Branch got farmed out to other branches all over the world to help deal with manifestations where they were actually happening. It made both Daphne and Mephisto very anxious, though they showed it in different ways—Mephisto by gorging himself on instant noodles and all-night anime binges, Daphne by nightmares.

She was having one of those right now. The blade bonding class had been tough. Shura hadn't been there—out on assignment in Rome—and the only others who had shown up were Hiriko and Katsumi. Kids. Daphne had tried to teach them the skin bonding technique and it hadn't gone well at all.

Rin propped himself up on an elbow and watched Daphne's face through the darkness. Her eyebrows were all pulled together, her eyes darting back and forth under their lids, her lips pulled into a grimace. She was sweating. Every once in a while, a strained breath would hiss out of her mouth and the muscles in the rest of her body would tense. Rin couldn't wake her up at the risk of sending her into sleep paralysis, and that would only make it worse. Instead he just waited, his own eyebrows drawn together in sympathetic pain, until she gasped herself awake.

" _Faisal!_ " she shouted, sitting bolt upright.

Rin reached out a hand and took hold of her arm. Daphne drew in a few deep breaths and then collapsed back against her pillow, putting her hand on her forehead.

"I'm sick of this, Rin," she whispered.

He stroked the arm he'd been holding, careful of her bruises healing under new ones.

"How can I help?" he asked.

She shook her head. "I don't know."

They were quiet for a moment, Daphne drawing in labored breaths and Rin gently brushing his fingers down her arm and back again.

"Can you feel anything?" she asked. "In Gehenna. Has anything changed?"

Rin shook his head. "It's quiet. I could try burning your aura if you want?"

Nodding, Daphne sat up and drew Helen of Troy from her neck. Rin shut his eyes and focused, able now to consume her aura without drawing Kurikara. He burned just a little bit and focused on Gehenna, but even with the aura, he couldn't sense anything. At least, not anything out of the ordinary.

"No dice. Sorry, Daph."

She slid Helen of Troy back into its seal and sighed.

"Can you go back to sleep?" Rin asked.

Daphne shrugged. "I don't want to. I want this to be over. I want to end it. I want either myself or Morpheus to be dead."

He sat up. "Don't say that."

"It's true, Rin."

"Don't talk like that. Don't—you have to stay positive. We're going to beat this thing. We are. I promise."

"How can we when we don't have any exorcists, Rin?" she cried. "How are we supposed to fight Morpheus _and_ all of its fifth form semicapers when more than half of our personnel are in Rome or London or Alexandria or god knows where?!"

"How many people did you have on your team when you fought Morpheus?"

"They all _died,_ Rin."

" _You_ didn't. How many?"

She didn't answer.

"How many of you were there, Daph?"

"Six."

" _Six._ You did this with six. We can do it with half the Japan Branch."

He might have said, "Hell, we could do it with _two_ ," but Daphne didn't seem to be in a place for unbridled optimism. He pulled her into a hug, but she didn't return it.

"You just need some rest. If we can get you back into shape, we'll be fine."

Again she was quiet for a long, long moment. Eventually, she pulled back and looked seriously into his eyes.

"Do you ever get tired of being the trump card?"

The question made Rin's blood run chill. He sat back. Daphne sighed.

"I do," she said.

She settled down after that, put her head on her pillow and shut her eyes to go back to sleep. Rin tried to do the same, but he couldn't. His eyes kept opening. His brain wouldn't shut up. Daphne's question ran through it over and over and over. He'd never really thought about his position like that before. To him it had always seemed like he was needed, like he was backing up his friends, like he was part of the Order, but… Another look and he could see where Daphne was coming from clear as day. He'd been a card his whole life—a player in somebody else's game. How much of his life path had he actually chosen, and how much had he been steered down?

Daphne's breath had just barely deepened, her consciousness just barely slipped under when at once the room began to vibrate and a powerful _boom_ sounded seconds later. The windows lit up in a flash of orange and red light. The whole of it scared the shit out of Rin, Daphne too, and both of them went flying from the bed, braced on their feet in an instant.

Daphne had already drawn Castor and Pollux.

"They're here."


	43. Part 43

Where one moment there had been nothing, in the next there was everything. A sudden circle struck like flint around the city, at once complete and sealing in the central summoning lines. At the same time, hundreds of fifth form semicapers manifested in growling, fiery pairs. The instruments and watch stations set up to detect their arrival went haywire. Every alarm in the command center went off instantaneously.

Of course, Daphne didn't need any of this to tell her what was going on. She knew well enough without instruments or exorcists. She knew it in her blood.

It was certain now. Or, at least, she was certain of it. Her temptaint from Morpheus had never truly gone away. She could see it with such clarity. The dreams. The nightmares. The hallucinations. All caused, or strengthened, by a demon who manifested with those properties.

It wasn't post-traumatic stress. It was possession.

At least now it would be over. At least now she was going to end this. The second her feet hit the ground, Daphne knew: either she or Morpheus was going to survive the night.

* * *

Rin had been startled out of his bed part by the sound and explosion, and part by Daphne shooting up like a rocket. He didn't even see her draw her blades. They were just suddenly in her hands. That special stoniness had already taken over her eyes and her face. She looked immediately like she did two or three hours into an exorcism—serious, focused, like a captain in the US Army.

She must have been living on the absolute edge for the last couple of weeks, given how quickly she was up and ready to fight. She looked like she'd spent every second just waiting for this manifestation to take place.

"Let's go," Daphne said and was already out the door before Rin had the good sense to call after her to put her shoes on. He barely even made it down the stairs and onto the stoop to stop her from hurling herself all the way down the street barefoot.

"Daph! Daph! Holy shit, take your shoes," he said, grabbing her with one hand and her sneakers by the front door with the other. He practically had to fix her hands into the laces to get her to hold them.

Daphne shoved her feet into her shoes and cinched the laces tight before Rin had even found his. By the time he had them on, Daphne was already jogging away.

"My uniform—"

"There isn't time."

The way Daphne looked at Rin made him want to throw up. The expression in her eyes… She was ready to die tonight.

"Daph—"

Whatever he'd been about to say—he didn't quite know himself—got lost under an incredible explosion just a block away. A wave of heat rushed between the buildings, scorching trees and potted plants as the sky lit up the color of crimson. A wall of flames rushed down the street the next instant.

" _There he is, there he is, the False Prince of Gehenna. He is found. He is found!_ "

The words hissed through Rin's head and brought a migraine of hurt with them. At first he just grimaced, but then the same phrases hissed through a second time and he doubled over with the pain. Daphne was by his side in an instant.

"Burn my aura," she said.

"But, Daph— _ah._ "

" _Σε γιγνώσκων χαίρω._ "

It sounded like a hundred voices all at once.

"You're of no use to anyone if you can't walk—now _burn my aura._ "

Rin gritted his teeth. This was bad. Daphne had already been wearing thin as it was, now he needed her strength even to _focus?_ Forget fighting, he couldn't even get down the street. Another explosion, this one further down the road. She looked at him and her face turned red in the light from the flames. Her aura shined so brightly in the dark, that beautiful rainbow halo that enshrined the edges of her body. She had so much determination in her eyes. Those eyes locked with Rin's, she nodded.

Focusing on that bright blue in her rainbow, Rin drew Kurikara.

* * *

It hurt like hell—perhaps literally—to let Rin burn her aura with her body in the state it was, but he would only take as much as he needed and she had learned weeks ago that trying to fight the sensation only made it worse. Daphne staggered a little, but she didn't let him see.

Rin's flames grew taller. Shadows of horns started to show on his head. After a moment, he straightened up. Mysteriously, he was grinning.

"They weren't expecting that," he said.

Since Rin could stand now, Daphne took off running down the street. He followed. They'd go to the end of the block and then toward the manifestation site.

"You can hear them?"

"Yeah."

"What are they saying?"

"A bunch of stuff in Greek now, I think. I don't know. I can hear my name. And Mephisto's, but when I started burning your aura they sounded kind of startled."

Daphne narrowed her eyes. "Good."

They reached the end of the block, turned the corner, and headed north to the unmistakable tower of flames burning a street down.

* * *

In Rome, Shura's pager buzzed. She ignored it, kind of busy cutting the heads off a couple of ghouls, but when it didn't _stop_ buzzing, and just kept right on vibrating, the sound really started to piss her off, so she decided to look at it.

It was Mephisto.

 _Morpheus_ was all it said.

"Shit." Shura shoved the pager back into her pocket. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, _shit!_ "

* * *

Every available exorcist and capable exwire was roused from their beds and put to work as quickly as they could be located. Every senior exorcist first class out on loan was paged and ordered to Vatican headquarters for immediate use of the connecting doorways to head back to Academy Town and True Cross.

But it all seemed too little too late.

The instant they had manifested, the fifth form semicapers had wreaked considerable damage. Every building that lay along the outer circle of the summoning lines was burning. The shaking of the ground as the demons sucked asphalt into their bellies created tremors that toppled others still.

This, in a matter of minutes.

* * *

Rin prepared himself to see the worst, but he didn't prepare enough. Homes in Academy Town were built like they were everywhere else in Japan—tall and close together—and the flames that had already engulfed the buildings on the summoning line itself were spreading. Ashy, blistered, and bleeding people were stumbling out of doorways, calling for their friends and family or fleeing. A moment later, the emergency sirens throughout the city started blaring.

"Head away from the city center!" Daphne shouted over the wailing. "Leave everything! Run! _Run!_ "

Those within earshot did as they were told, and those that hadn't heard followed when the others hurried down the street. Rin started toward one of the burning buildings, but Daphne grabbed his arm.

"There might still be people inside," he said.

"We have to leave them," she replied.

Rin stared at her.

"I'm sorry. We don't have a choice. We're exorcists, Rin. We have to leave them for the fire department."

"There are buildings burning _all over_ the city! Do you really think the fire department will get here in time?"

"Do you think the fire department can exorcise demons? _Fifth form semicapers?_ I'm not saying it's good, Rin. It's the lesser of two evils. I'm sorry."

He didn't have time to argue his point. The ground exploded a couple of yards away and two fifth forms burst out of the street in a shower of dirt and asphalt. All three of both demons heads were already awake, and sweet hell did the things look different. It was like the things had increased a half size. They stood taller, straighter, their muscles looked more taut and intense, their strange camouflage skin swirling a glowing red underneath like lava broiling beneath the surface. Their eyes locked with Rin's immediately.

" _Shit!_ "

He barely had time to swear, much less react sensibly, before both demons bolted straight for him and Daphne. More of what sounded like Greek rolled through his brain, this time just two voices, gleeful and murderous, and perfectly synced.

Rin only just raised Kurikara in time to meet with the lead semicaper's claws as it lunged at him. Sparks flew and Rin skidded backwards like he'd met with a high-speed metal wall. The snake head smiled. Its tongue flicked out, looking like it was made of fire.

" _Come, come now, little prince,_ " the demon hissed. " _We are nothing like our comrades._ "

"I can see that," Rin snapped back. The soles of his shoes were warm with the heat of friction after being pushed back. Also, the ground was sizzling all on its own. He glanced to his left to see that Daphne had already drawn away her semicaper opponent in battle.

" _You lacked even the decency to get properly dressed,_ " the demon observed, sounding amused. " _To think of so-called royalty calling out the cavalry in his pajamas._ "

Rin growled, stepping forward and raising Kurikara to strike. The semicaper blocked the blade much the same way Rin had blocked it earlier, and this time it was the demon's turn to look surprised.

"I'm not like my comrades either," Rin spat, and struck again.

* * *

Yukio had been on duty when the manifestation had taken place, organizing and mobilizing exorcists from the command center. Translation: he'd been sitting on his ass absolutely useless since there weren't any manifestations to organize exorcists _for_ , and hadn't been for what felt like the past century. In his free time, he'd been drafting a plan of orders for when the manifestation _did_ take place, and had even had enough empty hours to tweak it depending on the time of day. And thank god he had done, otherwise things might have wound up worse than they already were. Considering how bad things were, he would have been loath to see the damage that could have been done had someone else been the one sitting on their ass absolutely useless in his position for the past couple of weeks.

The final sequence of orders had gone out. Every available exorcist belonging to the Japan Branch was mobilized on the ground or else on their way from missions abroad. His command center replacement was on their way. He clipped a few extra cartridges into his belt and waited, tapping the toe of his shoe against the ground. In just a few minutes, he'd jump into the fray.

* * *

Daphne knew well enough that the semicaper had recognized her. She hadn't forgotten the intelligence and sentience the fifth forms possessed. It had haunted her every day since leaving Afghanistan. She didn't know if this was one she'd fought before, or if the creature had simply been taught what she looked like, but it didn't really matter. She knew how to kill it, and it knew that she knew.

Which only made things that much more difficult.

The demon was ready to block every attack she made at its heads. She swung with Castor, blocked. She swung with Pollux, blocked. She hadn't yet drawn Helen of Troy, but she hadn't had the chance. Daphne dealt or dodged a good blow per second for that first minute, then she and the semicaper mutually stepped back.

 _You are a worthy opponent_ , its eyes seemed to say.

All Daphne could think was how she had to survive long enough to meet Morpheus face to face. She didn't care what she would have to do to get there.

Both of them launched back into battle.

As she made parries at the heads and blocked parries at her own, Daphne noticed something: the semicaper always moved to protect the snake first. It was a marginal difference—perhaps less than half a second—but when things progressed so quickly, one learned to pick up on the small things. Daphne knew by instinct. She needed to remove the snake head first.

Ducking, she made a sudden swipe at the semicaper's ankles. It hadn't expected that, but dodged her nevertheless. The move left her exposed, but also with enough time to draw Helen of Troy and hurl it off into the distance between the semicaper's legs. She took a blow to the shoulder in exchange.

Again, both of them jumped back from each other. Both took a second to size the other up. Daphne's breathing was ragged already. She hadn't slept well. She was worn out. She couldn't feel her shoulder. Rin was burning her aura just to stay mobile. It didn't look good.

She didn't care.

The semicaper took a half-step forward, raising a clawed hand to strike her shoulder again. Daphne simply raised her arm. The demon didn't have time to be confused by the gesture as Helen of Troy came flying back, straight through the neck of the snake head. Daphne caught the blade, sliding it back into her neck as the semicaper's head slid off its own.

The goat heads started to show surprise, started to raise claws to attack, but Daphne leapt forward and cut both of them off simultaneously—one with Castor, one with Pollux. A shriek and a flash of intense heat, and the demon was gone.

Its blood that had not passed through the seal with Helen of Troy ran down the back of Daphne's neck and dripped along her spine. She shivered.

* * *

Out of nowhere, Rin's semicaper suddenly turned from him and started in Daphne's direction. At first it looked to Rin like a power play—go after Daphne and use her against him—but a second later he realized that the demon had turned because Daphne had exorcised its partner, not because she had any connection to Rin.

" _Leda has drawn first blood._ "

The semicaper did not move to attack her. Instead it approached within a few feet and bowed itself to Daphne, leaving all three of its heads exposed.

" _Leda, mother and keeper to Castor, Pollux, and Helen. You are strong. You have our respect._ "

Daphne also didn't do anything. She just stood there looking at the semicaper as it bowed to her. Rin was about to shout for her to cut its heads off while she had the chance, when the thing suddenly disappeared into the street, sinking like the asphalt was actually quicksand. Then she looked up at Rin.

"What did it say?"

Before Rin could answer, a small team of exorcists dashed onto the block, their leader immediately giving the order to fan out and search for semicapers. She approached Rin and Daphne at a trot.

"The whole branch is mobilized," she said, offering them earpieces from a bag full of them she had slung around her arm. "You two are your own team. You don't have to report or give orders to anyone. Just keep command informed of your location."

Daphne nodded, thanked her, and took both earpieces so she could leave. Daphne held one of them out to Rin.

"I couldn't even land a blow," he said, taking it.

"They're strong. And intelligent." Daphne put her earpiece on and spoke into the microphone immediately. "Lux to command. Rin and I are standing on the summoning line somewhere in the Lower Ring on the south side. Can you tell me how many semicapers manifested and where the thickest concentration is?"

Rin put his earpiece in just in time to hear the response from command.

"Glad to hear from you Lux. Initial manifestation was between five and seven hundred semicapers. Since then, some additional three hundred have arrived. So far only one—oh, two now—have been exorcised. We're still waiting on many of our senior exorcists first class to return. The highest concentration of semicapers is moving toward True Cross Academy."

"Thank you."

"We should go back for my school keys," Rin said. "It'll be way faster than trying to get up there on foot."

Daphne nodded and the two of them took off together. Rin eased up on the amount of aura he was consuming as they ran, just to test the waters and see if he could stand without it. The pain that had accompanied the voices returned, but it was less intense, so he decided to deal with it for the time being. If any more semicapers appeared in front of them, he'd increase the dosage. Until then, he'd just have to suck it up.

They reached the house and Rin went inside, grabbed his keys off the hook by the door, shut the door, and inserted the one of the school keys into the lock. When he opened the door again, he and Daphne stepped through onto the bridge that led toward Shiemi's shop. From up there, they could see the burning ring of fire that circled the whole city. An equally fiery wave of semicapers could also be seen picking their way through the city toward the school. Flames crackled. Buildings collapsed. Machine gun whirring and semicaper shrieks took to the air.

Over it all the emergency sirens still wailed.

"Jesus Christ…"

"We have to end this quickly, Rin," Daphne said.

" _How?_ " he asked, but he soon had his answer. In an instant, the ground shook and everything below them was swallowed by a thick, vaporous mist. It was black and it swirled, towering ever higher, moving swiftly, but gently, rising and rising but never moving beyond the school grounds. It stopped just shy of where they stood on top of the bridge.

Daphne looked at him. The wind blew her hair back.

"Morpheus," was all she said.


	44. Part 44

That cloud of mist was so familiar to Daphne it almost felt as though she had never stopped looking at it. Like it had covered her vision since the first time she set foot in it years ago. It pooled and eddied, thick and viscous and shifting in color like an oil spill, yet somehow maintaining the appearance of mist. She stared down at it from on top of the bridge. This was just the beginning of Morpheus's manifestation.

"The fifth forms will form a ring and protect this area," she said. "They need to give Morpheus enough time to generate a sufficient cloak to protect itself."

"I know, Daph. I read the info packet."

A wry smile crossed Daphne's mouth. Info packet. It all sounded so benign. Just a list of instructions on how to install software on your computer, or exorcise a demon on the same power level as one of the seven kings.

"What do you want to do?" Rin asked.

She lifted her gaze from the mist to his face. The wind was warm with the heat of the flames this far up. Ash floated on it. Rin's hair fluttered and so did his tail. She didn't remember him sheathing Kurikara, but the blue flame still burned slightly at its focal points, still consumed her aura. He looked benign as well. Just a guy in his pajamas.

"We go in," Daphne said decidedly, her eyes locked with his. That was the only way she could think to steady herself from the wave of dread that flooded through her body following those words. "We'll help any students that might not have made it out before the mist arrived and wait for Morpheus."

"Once we do…the hallucinations will start."

Daphne nodded.

"Are you ready?"

Daphne could only smile. Whatever emotion she was feeling didn't have a way to show itself, or generate a name in her mind. She was not ready. She would never be ready. But she had no say in the matter. There was no point in fear, but she still felt it and so it was there but also empty. Sheathing Castor, she stepped forward and wrapped her hand around the back of Rin's neck.

"I love you, Rin Okumura," she said. He reached up a hand and took hold of her wrist. "No matter what happens, I love you."

"I love you, too, Daph. With my whole heart."

Their lips met, and it was brief, but within that kiss was contained the sum total of the unshakable bond the two of them shared. Daphne held onto him, pressing him close, and shut her eyes. She could still hear the sirens and the semicapers. The light of the flames across the city danced red across her lids. As they separated, Rin took hold of her hand. He nodded once, and the two of them moved onto the edge of the bridge. They couldn't help but hesitate, looking down at the twisting, sulfurous mist.

"Burn my aura," Daphne said.

Rin did. She could barely feel it over the furious beating of her heart in her ears. Their grips on each other's hands tightened.

Together, they stepped off the edge.

* * *

 _Author's Note: I am fully aware that this is, like, the worst, meanest update ever, but I am working on more as we speak and should have it posted later tonight or tomorrow morning! Promise, promise._


	45. Part 45

Whatever Rin had been expecting, this wasn't it. After stepping from the bridge, anticipating a fall and a landing, he instead touched down gently on the grass of the green space in front of the school building. Which didn't make any sense, given that the front of the school was a good couple hundred meters away. The sirens and shrieking disappeared, replaced instead by the sound of a breeze through leaves. It was warm. The sun was out. The school grounds were empty like it was the middle of a Saturday in spring.

Only it wasn't.

"Holy _shit…_ "

Rin looked to Daphne and was surprised to see that she wasn't surprised. Everything she'd described about the hallucinations had made them out to be a living hell, but this seemed all right, and she didn't look to have been caught off-guard by that at all. Instead she narrowed her eyes and started walking. A bird chirped overhead.

"Wait, Daph, where are we going?" Rin asked, pulled along by their hands still locked together.

"Forward," Daphne replied. "This is the labyrinth."

"The what?"

"The labyrinth. We have to cross it to get to Morpheus."

They arrived at the apparent entrance to the school. Daphne touched her free hand to the doors and felt around, testing the handles and finding them locked.

"How do you know that?"

"I don't know," she replied.

Her hand slipped straight through the glass on the door then, like the glass wasn't even there. She waved her arm around and the door dissipated like mist, falling to the ground and spreading out in a pool around their feet. The space on the other side was dark.

"Let's go."

* * *

Daphne didn't know how she could have forgotten about the labyrinth, but her memories of Afghanistan had always been hazy at best. Returning to the mist, being present in it once again, had awakened in her mind memories she had forgotten—weaving through the ruins of an Afghan town with her team, the sun turning and turning overhead, making days pass in minutes, the seasons changing moment to moment. The labyrinth must have taken on some disguise to fit into the environment in which Morpheus manifested. It would be more likely to make people forget where they were that way.

She and Rin traveled swiftly through the dark halls of the school. She kept one hand on the wall and one hand in Rin's. Occasionally her fingers would sweep over a door like the entrance that would shift and then disappear like smoke. Then she would step through and press on. It grew darker the deeper and deeper they travelled.

"Feels kind of like a haunted house," Rin commented and his voice reverberated down the hall, amplified far louder than it should have been but bouncing back in a whisper. "You know, like at a school fair."

"…fair."

"… _fair._ "

"…FAIR."

Though they had been walking down the main hall toward the cafeteria, Daphne suddenly arrived at the door to her classroom. Any semblance of light disappeared, the only illumination Rin's flames and her aura.

"I was kind of expecting someone in a mask to jump out."

She gave Rin a flat stare through the dim light.

"What?"

"Don't fall for it," was all she said.

Reaching out a hand, Daphne tested the door to her classroom. It was solid. At once they were boxed in, surrounded on all sides only by copies of that same door. Rin jumped, his grip on her hand tightening.

" _Je_ sus. Does that mean we're close?"

"No. I think it means it knows we're here."

In a flash of blinding light, they were back on the green again and it was sunny. Rin swore and then started to complain about how that wasn't fair that they had to start the maze all over again, but Daphne ignored him. They hadn't moved. The sun dipped down, disappeared under the horizon and the moon came up. The breeze stopped and everything went still. The door to her classroom appeared in front of them.

"This way," Daphne said.

As she passed through, the door fell to ash at her feet.

On the other side was a fifth-form semicaper.

Rin jumped back and then started laughing. "See? I told you, Daph," he said. "Just like a haunted house. You scared me, Katsumi."

"Okumura-sensei, Lux-sensei, I'm so glad to see you," the semicaper said, sounding very much like Katsumi. It stepped forward, looking for help, but Daphne stepped back, so it did as well, startled. "I can't find my way out. I got separated from the others once the sirens started going off."

"We're trying to find our way _in_ , so—"

"Don't talk to it, Rin."

"Talk to what? I'm not talking to anything, I'm just trying to get Katsumi—"

Daphne pulled on his hand and yanked him away. "That's a semicaper."

Rin glanced between her and what must have appeared as Katsumi to him, looking confused. "Is that what you see?" he asked.

"Yes."

"How do we—"

"We don't," Daphne replied. "We can't know which is real. If either."

Her instincts told her just to cut the thing's heads off and be done with it, but she couldn't. If Rin was seeing Katsumi, on the off-chance that what the semicaper _she_ saw was what was false, she couldn't kill her student. It was entirely possible that Katsumi had gotten caught up or left behind at the school when the sirens went off. It was entirely possible there was a guardian fifth form wandering around the labyrinth waiting to kill them. It was also possible that the creature they were talking to was entirely composed of mist.

"Lux-sensei—"

"We have to leave it, Rin."

"Daph—"

"If it's Katsumi, he'll have to find his way out on his own. I don't want to hurt him."

A hallway appeared around them and all at once doors started opening and fifth form semicapers poured from the rooms.

"Lux-sensei!"

"Okumura-sensei!"

"Oh god, thank you, you came to rescue us."

"Which way do we go?"

"What's going on?"

Daphne's hands started to shake. Which was real? Whose hallucination was it? Hers or Rin's? Were they semicapers? Were they students? She had no way to know. She pressed her shaking hands together over her mouth. If she fought them…if she killed them as semicapers and they were her students…

"Run, Rin."

" _What?_ "

" _RUN!_ "

Pulling his hand, Daphne bolted through the nearest doorway. On the other side was the courtyard, strewn with bruised and broken bodies of students. They were scattered everywhere, the fountain spilling water as rubble around them. Patches of grass were on fire. They looked like they'd been caught trying to escape. Daphne kept running, dragging a stumbling Rin. Behind her the semicapers were following, shouting, "Lux-sensei! Okumura-sensei! Please! Wait!" But she couldn't. Around the next corner, she slammed into a group of dusty, ashy students and they pawed at her, moaning, injured, bleeding, asking for help. Then they were gone, it was dark, and they were surrounded by a pentagon of doors into her classroom. People started knocking from the other side.

"Lux-sensei! Please!"

"Help us!"

"Please!"

Daphne reached her breaking point. Reaching behind her head, she drew her other blade, pushed Rin to the ground, and swung in a circle, slicing through the doors and releasing a tremendous amount of aura that made Rin's flames flare up, horns appear on his head, and his tail grow longer. The wave disappeared and the light dimmed and in the darkness Daphne could just make out the halved doors, and beyond them, the head- and shoulder-less bodies of teenagers. With nothing to hang onto, their arms fell to the ground. Four semicapers rose from behind the doors.

" _Leda has solved the labyrinth._ "


	46. Part 46

Frankly, Rin had no idea what had just happened. The only thing he knew for sure was that his connection to Gehenna had suddenly strengthened and his transformation deepened. He looked up at Daphne, on the ground somehow though he didn't remember how he got there and just as he opened his mouth to ask her, she ran. Just straight up bolted and left him there.

He scrambled to his feet to call after her, and it wasn't until he was upright that he noticed something—a fuzzy, faded outline in the shape of Daphne standing next to him.

The predictive shadows.

"Daph?"

It was faint, and vaguely rainbow-colored, but the shadow looked his way.

"Yeah?"

Rin let out a sigh of relief, but no sooner had the breath left his lips than Daphne's voice was shouting, "Rin!" He reached out, seeing her shadow start to run, perhaps after some image of him that had started off as well, and she jumped, then she must have noticed his shadow as well.

"Oh my god."

Now that they were touching again, Rin inevitably burned more of Daphne's aura. His teeth grew sharp. The horns on his head twisted higher. The room went bright with blue light and he could see now that they were, in fact, in a room. It was somebody's office, and its outline twinkled with the faintest white-rainbow light. Like Daphne's aura. He could see the school. The _real_ school.

"Can you see that?"

"What?"

"The room. The room we're actually in."

Daphne shook her head. "No. I see the semicapers, still. And the doors."

"I can see where we are…"

Rin blinked, trying to get a clearer vision, but he couldn't for some reason. Everything seemed to swirl like how the sky does when you lie down and look up at it—like the problem was with his eyes and not what he was seeing. Daphne twined their hands together.

"The summoning lines were centered over the school. Morpheus will manifest in the middle," she said.

"The courtyard."

"Yeah."

"I'll lead."

* * *

Daphne shut her eyes and let Rin take the reins. All she would see if they were open was Rin's faint outline, endless hallways, headless students, and swarms of fifth form semicapers bearing teeth and flicking tongues and getting ready to tear them to shreds. As they walked, Rin leading swiftly now that they had a firm idea where they were going, Daphne wondered about the _actual_ fifth forms that had manifested in the city. They would by now have set up a near-impenetrable barrier around the school and the mist. Daphne and her team had had to fight their way through the semicapers the first time she'd encountered Morpheus, but she and Rin had avoided all that by entering from above. She hoped the Knights of the True Cross would have enough sense not to fight their way in.

" _Shit!_ "

Rin jumped at her shout and stopped walking.

"No, no, keep going, it's fine. I just realized we didn't radio to tell anyone where we were before we went in."

She pressed her finger to her earpiece and spoke, but the line just crackled.

"I'd be surprised if a signal could get out of this," Rin said.

"Damn…"

People would suffer for her mistake. Other people. People she cared about. If the rest of the exorcists knew she and Rin were inside, maybe they wouldn't try to break through the line of fifth forms. Then again, these were exorcists she was talking about, and they probably would have tried to break through no matter what.

"We're nearly there…"

Daphne opened her eyes. She was in a desert in Afghanistan. Sand whirled around her on the wind. In the distance, her Army base. Her uniform hung loose on her body, the same color as the sand, and as she looked at it, and thought to herself that it didn't look quite right, it became her pajamas, and her feet—shoved into tennis shoes without socks—touched down in the moonlight on the grass of the courtyard. Rin's hand was once again visible in her own.

"Woah," he said.

Daphne looked up. Far above the circular walls of the courtyard, the thick mist swirled still, a circle of sky visible at the center. They had certainly come to the right place. But where was Morpheus?

She glanced at Rin and he was looking at her. She still hadn't gotten used to the way he appeared as more of a demon. The horns this time were taller than they usually were. Noticing that drew her attention to the straining feeling of him burning her aura.

"And so the prince arrives at last."

Starting, both of them looked to the source of the voice at the fountain. Seated at the top was a small creature. It had the legs of a goat and the head and torso of a man. The arms were human, too, though covered all over in scales like a snake's. From its forehead, a pair of short horns sprouted. Pointed ears, a goat's tail. For all intents and purposes, it looked exactly like how Daphne might have imagined a satyr would.

"Morpheus," she said.

She remembered now. She remembered everything so clearly.

* * *

Morpheus was one weird little dude. As Daphne stared up at the goat-legged guy in awe, Rin just scowled. _This_ was the demon that wanted to overthrow Satan and the demon kings? _This guy?_ He looked like he should have been playing the pan flute and drinking straight out of the bottle. Rin was about to remark as much when he realized something.

"I've seen it before," he said, and Daphne looked his way in surprise. "The feet anyway."

Morpheus had been there that first time Rin had burned Daphne's aura and transformed. He'd seen those goat feet. He was certain.

"You arrived quickly with Leda at your side," Morpheus said, smiling and hopping down from the top of the fountain. "I'm not surprised."

" _Who?_ " Rin asked in spite of himself.

Morpheus gestured at Daphne. "Samael was wise to call her in."

"The hell are you talking about?"

"She may be the only human with first-hand knowledge of me, but she is also strong. Did you think her finding her way out of my labyrinth the first time was an accident? That she was lucky?" He scoffed. "That she made it out on her own?"

Rin looked to Daphne and she was pale, her gaze directed at the ground.

"You let me live so you would have an anchor to this world," Daphne said, and lifted her face to Morpheus. "You let me go and marked me with your temptaint to make manifestation easier for you."

"I had no desire to harm you, my dear. Simply the means to an end."

Daphne's face went flush with anger and she took a step forward so aggressively that Rin felt compelled to grab her and hold her back.

"And what end was that?" Daphne spat.

"Democracy," Morpheus replied.

"Do you have any idea the kind of _hell_ I've lived through—"

"Sometimes individuals must suffer for the greater, common good. You humans have lived in democracy for hundreds of years. Isn't it time demons had the same?"

"I don't give a _shit_ about democracy for demons."

"Ah, so prejudiced." Morpheus touched his fingers to his forehead in a dramatic pose and then laughed. "Of course you don't. Not when you share a bed with the heir to the throne." He folded his hands behind his back and grinned at the two of them. "Tell me, Leda. Is he very good?"

Growling, Rin let go of Daphne and drew Kurikara. Gehenna wrapped tighter around him. The gesture just made Morpheus laugh.

"Sensitive about his performance, I see."

"Come on, Daphne, we can take him," Rin said, bearing his teeth. He hoped they looked menacing, as sharp as they were. "He's tiny."

"Looks can be deceiving."

Morpheus struck out like a flash of lightning and a near-invisible fist collided with Rin's gut. He went flying backwards, his feet scraping lines of dirt into the grass, and doubled over, a hand on the ground to steady himself. That hand was black suddenly. And it had claws.

" _Shit._ "

He'd instinctively burned more of her aura. Rin looked at Daphne. She was wiping blood from her nose. Morpheus struck again, and Rin only just managed to block the blow, taking the impact into his new claw hands.

"I _sssseeee_ ," Morpheus said, the sound long and drawn out and hissing into Rin's ears. The demon started to laugh. "How _very_ interesting."

Another blow landed on Rin's side. He ducked the next. When he straightened, he found Morpheus standing three feet taller—his eyes perfectly level with Rin's. They were gold. The pupils were rectangular. A snake tongue flicked out of his mouth.

"You have found access to my temptaint anchor in your demon form."

Rin swiped at Morpheus's head with Kurikara, but the demon stepped back, smiling.

"Ah, but what happens to wood when it is touched by flames?"

He swiped again, but Morpheus still managed to dodge.

"It turns to ash."

In a flash of red fire, the demon disappeared. His laughter didn't though, echoing around the courtyard with glee. Instinctively, Rin looked up to search for the enemy, but instead he turned his face just in time to see the last glimpse of the sky closed out by the mist.

It fell down to meet him the next instant.

Nothing was different at first. The courtyard remained as it had been before Rin had noticed the mist, only—it was quiet. Silent, in fact. The only sound he could hear was his own breathing. His heartbeat against his eardrums. The blood running in his veins. Then there was the distinctive, wet _shunk_ of a blade entering a body, and he looked, and Daphne was hanging off the end of Kurikara.

" _No!_ "

He dropped the blade and she was gone. Laughter.

"So you do fear this," Morpheus said, just a voice in surround sound.

Rin fell into a crouch to grab Kurikara. Morpheus appeared right in front of his face.

"You fear hurting her."

Growling, Rin shoved his blade through Morpheus's chest, but now he was Daphne and she stared at Rin, life running from her eyes and blood from her mouth. Again he dropped the sword. Again, she disappeared and Morpheus laughed.

"Stop it!" Rin shouted.

"Why should I?" Morpheus materialized a few feet away, so Rin got up and stalked after him. "Because you say so? Because I owe some oath of allegiance to a false prince?"

The second Rin reached the demon, he metamorphosed into a mirror and Rin came face to face with himself. With the new and terrifying creature that he was. Inky blackness inched its way up his arms, his jaw was set almost in a permanent snarl. He leveled Kurikara and struck the mirror. It became Daphne on contact and he sliced right into her. Almost instantaneously, he lowered how much he was burning of her aura.

"As I thought," Morpheus said from behind him. Rin whirled around. "You could take more. You could increase your power, but you will not. To preserve her."

Daphne stepped out from behind the fountain. Morpheus gestured to her and she hurried forward to meet them, looking concerned.

"Rin—" she started to say, but the sound got choked off as Morpheus reached out a hand and strangled her, though she was still a few yards away.

"Let her go."

Morpheus smiled. "Your caution is pointless. Burn her. She _will_ be consumed. All that remains to be seen is whether you or I will be the one to do it."

Watching Daphne struggle, watching her kick as Morpheus lifted her from the ground from a distance, Rin couldn't bring himself to consume any more. He couldn't bring himself to do it. He _loved_ her. Christ, he loved her so much. He couldn't kill her. He couldn't be responsible for her death like he had been for the deaths of so many other people he loved.

He stopped burning her aura entirely. Kurikara started to slip from his hands.

* * *

In Afghanistan, when she had tumbled finally out of the labyrinth, Daphne had come face to face with a small, goat-like creature. He had smiled. Asked her the names of her blades, and upon hearing them, requested to bestow upon her a new name of her own.

"One fitting for a queen of your nature," he had said.

Daphne had long ago learned never to make a deal with a demon, and she tried to fight him instead of refusing. This had impressed the demon. He took her into his arms after a long battle and she could not get free.

"Your kind call me Morpheus. After the god of dreams. It is fitting, I suppose. I shall call you Leda. Mother of Castor, and Pollux, and Helen of Troy. And I will call on you when you are needed."

Then the demon had willingly returned to Gehenna, but not without instilling in Daphne a thousand different memories of a thousand different horrors. She had stumbled around the desert for days before anyone had found her.

Now Rin was suffering the same.

Whatever Morpheus was making him see, it was working. Rin's attacks became sloppy, then ceased all together. Daphne could neither see nor hear what Rin did, her own Afghan sands swirling around her, Faisal and Adri and Rhoda missing arms or legs or both, sometimes their jaws or eyes or lips, clawing at her ankles, and begging her to help them. But she knew the truth now. And so she was no longer afraid.

Rin's predictive shadow was clear enough—the one truth in a sea of lies. She made her way to him as Faisal became Katsumi and Adri became Hiriko, Rhoda Shura, and just as he stopped burning her aura and was about to drop Kurikara for good, she raised Castor and smacked the metal of the blade against Rin's. His shadow jumped.

"I'm right here," she said. "You know what I look like."

* * *

Rin had forgotten. He had _entirely_ forgotten. He tapped into Daphne's aura immediately and her shadow flared up with light and color, clear now against the false backdrop of the courtyard. She looked at him, her eyes just barely distinguishable. The solid determination was evident in them all the same. That's what had been wrong with the illusions. Too much fear in their eyes.

"So you would like to be the one to make ash of her after all?"

The voice whirled around and around in his head.

"What's he saying to you?" Daphne asked.

"You want to hold her lifeless body in your arms?"

Rin burned less. Daphne's shadow faded.

"Hey! _Hey!_ What are you doing? Don't stop. That's what he wants, Rin. He wants you to drop your demon form." She smacked her blade against his again. "Focus."

He didn't know what was real anymore. If Morpheus knew about the predictive shadows, he very well could have been creating the image of Daphne Rin was speaking to then. The shadow could be lying to him. Either way, he was royally screwed. Burning more aura would risk killing Daphne. Burning less would give Morpheus the advantage of strength. Rin had to choose the lesser of the two evils—just like Daphne had.

"Burn my aura."

He squeezed his eyes shut. "I don't want to hurt you, Daph!"

"We can't beat him like this, Rin."

"I can't hurt you!"

"You're not going to hurt me, you idiot. Now _burn. My. AURA!_ "

He did as she said. She'd called him an idiot. It _had_ to be Daphne.

The mist dissipated that very instant, consumed by a tsunami of blue flame. The hallucinations went with it, but in their place came a transformation unlike anything Rin had ever dreamed. His black hands turned an iridescent blue, and long, hooked claws sprouted from the tips of his fingers so that he could no longer hold Kurikara. His tail elongated, grew spikes off the end. His legs bowed. His feet were now hooves. The horns spiraled up and up, crowned near his head with a fiery circle of blue flames. Everything came through his eyes in shades of blue, like the world had been dyed cyanotype. He looked down, and Daphne, now a foot shorter than he was, wiped two trails of blood from her nose. But she was grinning.

"That's more like it."

Bloodlust boiled up in Rin. Made his mouth water. He was so closely linked to Gehenna now. The claws on the ends of his fingers clicked together as he bent his knuckles.

"Let's go," Daphne said.

Rin was more than happy to oblige.

* * *

The inside of Daphne's head felt like it was being run through a blender. She could actually _feel_ Rin's flames sucking energy out of her, burning it up like lighter fluid. He was barely recognizable—enormous, horned, snarling—but that was him. All she'd done with her encouraging was exchange one illusion for another. At least they could see the courtyard and Morpheus now.

"Let's go," she said and bolted for the demon.

He had taken up a roost at the top of the fountain and was momentarily startled by Rin's transformation and the disappearance of the hallucinations he had induced. But he was quick on the uptake, and by the time Daphne reached him and swung out with her blades, he was ready to parry, blocking Castor with his arm and ducking Pollux's reach. Right behind her, Rin slammed into Morpheus the next second.

The recoil sent Daphne rolling. She hadn't quite regained her balance post-run, and the explosive force of two equally powerful beings running headlong into each other was too much for her feet. She fell, skidded, and stumbled to get back up.

By then, Rin and Morpheus had their hands around each other's throats.

"You are full of surprises, princeling. I will grant you that," Morpheus laughed, choking a little, but ultimately slipping out of Rin's grasp. He landed a blow to Rin's knee in the meantime. "But you are unpracticed in this form. I can tell."

Snarling, Rin made a grab at Morpheus, but the demon fell free again, darting behind Rin and delivering a kick to his side. Too slow, Rin turned around to face him. Morpheus was right. They should have pushed his transformation this far before now. He didn't know how to use it.

Daphne took a step forward, but staggered as Rin—perhaps unconsciously—drew on more of her aura to equal Morpheus. The courtyard spun, the moon doing circles, and Daphne had to put the tips of her blades to the ground to steady herself.

They connected. They stuck.

Suddenly, she felt firm. Grounded. She could sense the flow of energy between the earth and the blades, the blades and her hands. Of course she could. They were bonded.

Drawing strength from Castor and Pollux, Daphne righted herself. Her head still pounded with the heat of Rin's energy consumption, but she could advance now, and so she did, removing Helen of Troy from her neck as she walked. Rin and Morpheus were locked on to each other, landing and escaping blows, Rin taking more than Morpheus. The demon raised a fist to throw a punch and Daphne hurled Helen of Troy to counter. The boomerang blade connected, ricocheting off Morpheus's wrist and into the air. Teeth bared, the demon looked her direction.

In that moment, Rin landed one solid, resounding punch to Morpheus's face.

The demon went flying backwards, crashing into the fountain. He was on his feet in the next instant, though, spitting blood from his mouth. He glared at the two of them for a moment, then puckered his lips and whistled.

"I'll call in the cavalry to deal with you, Leda," he said, then doubled over, growing in size to match Rin's height.

Daphne didn't have any time to process what he might have meant as he bounded forward and tackled Rin, breaking the fountain to rubble by the force of his feet, sending a shower of dust into the air and water spilling onto the grass. She took a step forward, but the ground rumbled. Weak, she steadied herself on her blades again. Four fifth form semicapers emerged in front of her.

* * *

Rin didn't have time to worry about Daphne. He didn't have time to do anything but throw punches or kicks and attempt to dodge them in turn. The only thought in his mind, the only emotion behind his actions, was a sincere desire to rip Morpheus's head from its body and parade it around on the end of his claws.

But he just couldn't get the upper hand.

Morpheus was faster. Stronger. Wiser. He remained one step ahead of Rin. No matter how quickly Rin gained dexterity over his new flames and claws and tail, Morpheus learned just as quickly how to dodge them. Now he had summoned semicapers to assist him. Rin would just have to leave the other demons to Daphne. He had a goat to roast over a spit.

* * *

The semicapers launched into an attack the instant they were free from the ground. Daphne only just managed to escape their initial attempt by diving through their legs. The demons whirred, then columns of flames erupted from each of their snake mouths.

Maybe if she had been in better condition, she could have fought them. Hell, it would have been easy if she'd been feeling her best. She had taken on countless numbers of fifth form semicapers before and lived, but she was most certainly _not_ in good condition.

Every second, more energy drained out of her, pulled into Rin and consumed by the blue flames. It was all she could do to dodge the semicapers' attacks, much less launch any of her own. She fled, leading them in a reckless dance around the courtyard, directing their blows into walls or the rubble of the fountain, slipping in the mud, regaining her footing, taking blow after blow after blow to her face and neck and arms and middle. In the midst of it, Rin was not faring any better.

Daphne only caught glances out of the corner of her eye as she willed her soul to stay linked with Castor and Pollux and Helen of Troy, to stay conscious, and evaded the semicapers—Rin caught round his knees in Morpheus's grip, the demon unleashing fiery blasts of his own, Rin kicking free, hitting Morpheus, but caught round the arms and burned the next instant.

They couldn't keep fighting like this.

They were going to lose.

* * *

Rage boiled so close to the surface in Gehenna—and in Rin now that he was so close to it. That's all he was: rage. The emotion churned within him, roiling. He could feel nothing else as he took one hit after another, attacked uncontrollably in return. He reached out after more of Daphne's aura, after more power, heedless of the effect it might have had on her. He knew only one thing: he wanted Morpheus dead.

With a click, his vision became entirely an opaque blue.

"Rin! It's no good!"

Daphne's voice sounded so small.

"We can't fight them like this! We have to kill Morpheus!"

The world looked flat and like it had been dipped in acrylic paint.

"The semicapers are linked to him! If he dies, they'll disappear!"

Suddenly, Rin was no longer at True Cross Academy. He was in a train tunnel, watching a blonde woman with a pair of demon blades go barreling away from the train to hunt down the alpha ghoul. He was with Daphne, that night they'd first met.

Then Morpheus had his claws around Rin's throat. A column of flame erupted from the demon's hands and burned through Rin's skin. He cried out, but he couldn't get free.

"First, I will kill you," Morpheus hissed. "Then, I will kill Samael. It is only a matter of time before the demon kings' fall. Before the rise of _dimokratis._ "

"Let go," Rin rasped.

"Freedom," Morpheus snarled. "Freedom for demons. If I kill you, then we will be free."

Navy darkness closed in around the corners of Rin's vision. Morpheus's face started to turn purple under the blue with the effort of strangling him. Then the squared-off ends of a pair of blades emerged from the demon's neck.

"Not if I kill you first," Daphne spat.

* * *

Morpheus reeled at the pain of Castor and Pollux through his throat and nearly threw Daphne from his back, but she held on. She kept the blades buried firmly until Morpheus reached to pull her off and she had to let go. It was just enough time for the tables to turn, for Rin to dig his claws into the demon's neck, and throw him to the ground. Morpheus struggled, kicking and choking. The blue flame flared, becoming a thousand pointed ends and boring into his body, covering him completely. A rumbling roar erupted from Rin's mouth and Daphne very nearly blacked out as he sucked more energy from her than ever before.

Staggering, she ran to meet them, shaking, barely able to control her limbs. Rin was…Rin was…he was draining her. This would kill her. But he had to do it. Even then, Morpheus still fought with strength. She ran for their heads, ignoring the semicapers behind her as they came to catch up, ignoring everything except the sensation of her very life energy escaping from her body. Falling to her knees, Daphne crawled the rest of the way to Morpheus and heaved herself up above his head.

"Burn in hell," she said, crossing her blades over his neck. She found just enough strength to swing—

And then the world went white.


	47. Part 47

Rin's vision returned slowly. He blinked and world faded back to its usual colors, the opaque blue tint disappearing. From what he could gather, his body had returned to normal—his tail its usual length, his hands and feet hands and feet again. Once the blue was gone, he looked up and saw Daphne's body lying just a few feet away. He scrambled for her, regardless of the burns around his neck and arms and knees.

"Shit, Daph, oh god, Daph, no…"

He couldn't tell if she was breathing. The bleeding, headless corpse of Morpheus lay next to her. The semicapers were gone. Rin hit the ground at her side and pulled her into his lap.

"Daph. Daph! Come on. Please be alive. Please."

She looked like an absolute wreck, her skin coated with mud and sweat. Blood had pooled in and around her ears. Her eyes were squeezed shut, looking both swollen and shrunken at the same time. Bruises were visible even through the mud, to say nothing of the internal damage she surely must have taken.

" _Daph_."

Tears stung Rin's eyes. If she died… He didn't know what he would do without her. He drew in a shaky breath, the tears starting to fall. Then the slightest, shuddering breath moved Daphne's rib cage. Her eyes cracked open, and they looked warped and glassy for a second until she focused on Rin.

"Nice flames," she said, and then her eyes rolled back and her body went limp.

* * *

Everything after that was a blur of ambulances and paramedics, hospital hallways with nurses, people and doctors and exorcists shouting at each other, at Rin, asking questions, wanting answers that he couldn't give. He lost track of Daphne in the bustle of it all. Nobody would tell him where she was or if she was alive. Instead they just kept sticking needles in him and attempting to treat his burns. He got so fed up with it that he grabbed one of the doctors up by the collar and yanked him into his face, demanding to see Daphne. This did not go over well, particularly when Rin refused to let go of the guy and flared up, so one of the nurses stuck a particular needle into his IV and Rin slipped out of consciousness.

When he came to, Yukio was there in a chair by a hospital bed. He had his arm in cast and sling. Tape covered a couple of stitches over his left eye. His whole face was bruised, his hair dirty and burned.

"Welcome back," he said.

Rin tried to sit up but his body was heavy with sedatives. Breathing was hard with that weight on his chest.

"Where's Daphne?" he asked, words slurring a little.

"Medically induced coma," Yukio replied.

"But she's alive?"

"For now."

The words made Rin writhe.

"I know that's not what you want to hear, but it's the truth. They put her under because they were worried if they didn't get her on life support, she wouldn't last the hour."

Rin's heart twisted tight in his chest. His eyebrows pulled together and a headache formed behind them, burning with held-back tears. He didn't keep them in for long, dropping his head and letting the salty trails cut down his face. It was quiet for a moment before Yukio spoke.

"What happened in there, Rin?"

Rin shook his head, sniffing, trying to clear his throat to speak. "I don't—I don't know. I burned Daphne's aura—more than I ever have. We killed Morpheus…together, I think. I was a _demon_ , Yukio, I—I really don't remember."

He didn't. And on top of that, what memories he did have were blue.

"You saved the rest of us…" Yukio said, turning his face to his lap. "We were losing…even after all that preparation we were losing, and then all seven hundred semicapers just…disappeared. You saved us."

"And killed Daphne."

Pursing his lips, Yukio looked up. "Not yet," he said. "At least not yet."

* * *

She didn't know how or why, but for some reason Daphne was perfectly aware of the passage of time. Her world was nothing but the strange, nebulous mist of unconsciousness, and she didn't know for how long it had been that way, only that it _had_ been long. Shapes materialized out of the black-grey: three people, an IV drip and heart monitor screen, a circular light on what must have been the ceiling. The people spoke, but she couldn't understand them. Their voices sounded clogged and distant, like she was trying to listen from underwater. They looked like doctors but she couldn't be sure. They didn't seem to be speaking to her.

She couldn't feel her body. For all Daphne knew, she could have been little more than a pair of eyes flickering in and out of darkness. She couldn't keep them open, could barely see anyway. One of the maybe-doctors noticed the flickering and the underwater voices turned concerned.

Then a coldness rushed around her and the sensation pulled her eyelids closed for good. Quietly, Daphne returned to the mist.

* * *

A day had passed before their doctors collectively agreed to let Rin in to see Daphne. He was in pretty bad shape himself, given the injuries from Morpheus and the strain maintaining a demon form in Assiah had placed on his body. He felt nothing like how Daphne looked, though.

He was already crying from the moment he walked into the room and saw her there—tubes in her nose, tubes in her mouth and her arms and all around her machines, machines, machines. She looked like a shell, a husk, a corpse. And he had put her here.

He knew what she would have said—that he was wrong, that there had been no other way, but Rin didn't feel like that.

Could you really call it the lesser of two evils when you had to choose between the world and the one person who was _your_ world?

Rin sat with her until they made him go, and he came back every day to stay as long as they would let him. Three weeks went by like that. Shura and Shiemi came and went. Shura had been too late getting back from Rome to do much more in the battle than put on an earpiece. Shiemi had spent the duration on the sidelines, treating the wounded and protecting the weak. Kuro paid Daphne a visit as well, but the hospital staff had a fit about a cat in the facility and he was subsequently banned. Eventually, Father Michael himself arrived.

The visit was a surprise. Rin had had no idea that they'd contacted him until the guy had knocked on his door at the hospital and come into the room.

"Hello," he said, and his accent was so bad it took Rin a second to figure out what the word had been.

"Hi," Rin replied.

"Ah, um…Daphne…see…um, touch— _no. Damn it. I have no idea how to say this. Okay…_ ex—examine? Temptaint, gone."

Rin sat up. "What?"

It took a while, and a second translator in the form of Yukio, but Rin was able to piece together what Father Michael was telling him. He'd been called in to take a look at Daphne, and had found no trace of the temptaint left in her.

"Your flame…purify her," he said in the end. "No aura. Burned. Healed."

Of course, nobody knew what that meant exactly, and they wouldn't until Daphne was conscious. And as she seemed to be healing, Father Michael decided to stick around until the date the doctors scheduled to wake Daphne up.

Rin couldn't relax until then. Thankfully, he only had a few more days.

* * *

From the mist, a sense of soreness emerged. From the grey-darkness, a light. Slowly, nerve by nerve, Daphne's brain seemed to come back into contact with the rest of her body. She had a head. She had a neck. That neck had shoulders, the shoulders arms, and the arms lay by a torso with hips and legs and feet, and she had eyes and they were opening. Only she didn't want them to open. It was too bright.

A shadow fell over her face.

"Hey, kiddo."

That voice was like music in her ears—rock music played on a record player in a poorly-decorated apartment. Her throat closed up and made it even harder to speak on her broken vocal cords.

"Michael…?"

"The Japan Branch paid to fly me over," he said. "Some guy called Johann Faust footed the bill. You just rest. Take it easy."

She'd been trying to open her eyes to look at him, so she stopped, letting the heavy lids fall closed. She breathed deep. Her throat hurt.

"How long?" she asked.

"Three weeks."

That felt about right.

"You're lucky to be alive."

That felt about right, too.

Daphne couldn't speak for a moment, the haze of the drugs still wearing off. Somewhere in the middle of Father Michael gently stroking her hand, she fell asleep, and when she woke up, the light in the room was colored like a sunset and Rin was standing next to her.

"Hi…" she whispered and smiled weakly.

Rin promptly burst into tears.

She wanted to laugh, but couldn't find the strength. He sobbed, big crocodile tears rolling down his face as he fell over and let his head rest on her hand which he held clutched up in both of his own. Pretty soon, he'd covered her hand in snot.

"Oh god, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry," he blubbered, the words barely distinguishable.

Daphne tightened her hand around his.

"It's all right," she said.

It took Rin a couple of minutes to calm down, but when he did he stood up, wiping his nose, but still leaking fluids everywhere. This time, Daphne did laugh.

"Look at you, Rin Okumura. All choked up over a girl."

* * *

Rin couldn't find the words to express how relieved he was to see her awake. To have her _alive_. The whole thing had just been way too close for comfort, really, and he was about to wish that Morpheus had never existed when he realized that if Morpheus hadn't existed, he never would have met Daphne.

Without the demon, without its coming to True Cross, there would have been no cause for Mephisto to have called her in. She never would have come to Japan. She never would have been a part of his life.

Suddenly, the idea of living another second without her became absolutely unbearable.

"We should get married," he said out of nowhere.

"Okay," Daphne replied.

Two seconds passed—one where Rin realized what _he'd_ said, and panicked, and another where he realized what Daphne had _replied,_ and he panicked again.

" _Wait—what?_ " His mind and his heart raced a million miles a minute. Had he just asked her to marry him? Had she actually said _yes?_ "Are you serious?"

"Are _you_ serious?"

"I mean—" Was he? He thought so. How long had he wanted to marry her for? Since Boston? Since that night they ate burritos in the park? "—yeah. Christ. Yeah, I am." Since sukiyaki? Oh, hell, he'd wanted to marry her from the second she'd stepped on the train that night with the ghouls.

"So am I."

He looked at her. She smiled. The tears rose up in his eyes all over again, and even though he probably shouldn't have, he leaned over the hospital bed and pressed his lips to hers. Daphne even found a little strength to kiss him back.


	48. Part 48

Daphne was half asleep when someone tapped on her door and then entered, trailing a cloud of pink, glittery smoke behind him.

"Mephisto," she said dryly.

"I hear felicitations are to be in order," he said and winked.

Daphne rolled her eyes. "What for? Saving the city? Preserving the school? Keeping your sorry ass alive and in your floaty little demon king throne?"

Chuckling, Mephisto came forward, pulling up a chair and propping his chin on his hands on the edge of the bed.

"For your engagement, Miss Lux."

Daphne couldn't help the happy little swelling of her heart. Oh. That. It had only been a few days, and she hadn't left the hospital, but word had spread quickly and plenty of congratulations had come her way as people paid her visits. It didn't feel quite real, but she suspected it wouldn't until she was standing next to Rin at the ceremony.

"You're absolutely certain you want to bind yourself to _that_ nincompoop for the rest of your life?" Mephisto asked, his chin still propped up in his hands as he smiled.

"That nincompoop saved your goddamn school. _Again._ "

Mephisto sat up. "Indeed. Well. That is as I planned."

Daphne narrowed her eyes at him. She knew now that he had been nowhere to be seen during the battle, that the battle had cost just over a thousand lives, many of them exorcists, that the fire and the earthquakes had destroyed a good quarter of the city, that numerous lives and livelihoods were broken, and here was the man at the head of it all, playing that it all had gone according to his plan. Daphne didn't believe him for one second.

"Do you ever _do_ anything?"

"I pull the strings, Miss Lux."

She snorted. "Some puppet master."

"Perhaps. But would not the marionettes lie lifeless otherwise?"

"Ever heard of Pinocchio?"

Mephisto actually laughed. Rising, he tipped his hat to Daphne then turned to go. Halfway to the door, he paused, his back to her.

"I am grateful to you, Miss Lux… For everything."

Then Mephisto snapped his fingers and was gone in a poof of pink smoke.


	49. Part 49

Rin practically hurled himself through the doors to the hospital. Daphne was being released. There wasn't any time to spare.

He dashed through the hallways and only just managed to avoid colliding into every nurse, doctor, or visitor that he passed. Plenty of shouts followed in his wake, but Rin didn't stop running until he slid to a halt across the linoleum in front of Daphne's door. It was open, and from inside issued the gentle sound of some Catholic prayer.

Father Michael and Daphne were seated on the hospital bed, their hands joined, their heads bowed and eyes closed. Father Michael was the one reciting the incantation, Daphne silently following along, the light from the window illuminating her hair and her face from behind. She looked like an angel.

"… _in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, amen._ "

" _Amen._ "

They opened their eyes and looked Rin's direction. Daphne smiled, standing up.

"Did you bring them?" she asked.

Nodding, Rin came into the room and swung a couple of makeshift scabbards down from his back. Castor and Pollux. Helen of Troy was in his bag. He took the boomerang blade out as well and offered all three to Daphne. He'd been hanging onto them since the doctors had all thought it best for Daphne not to store the blades in her body while it was trying to heal.

Reverent, Daphne accepted the swords. She held them in her hands for a moment and drew in a deep breath. Rin watched as she raised them one by one and slid them into the seals on the back of her neck—watched as the light glinted off the inscriptions.

WITH HEALING BALM MY SOUL IS FILLED

EVERY FAITHLESS MURMUR STILLED

Daphne shut her eyes, swaying a little.

" _Feel different?_ " Father Michael asked.

" _Yeah_ ," Daphne replied. " _Like how it used to. Only deeper._ "

They hadn't seen any trace of Daphne's aura since she'd woken up. Father Michael had performed numerous tests and experiments and had concluded at the end of every one of them that the Morpheus temptaint was well and truly gone. All that remained was Daphne's connection to her blades. Father Michael glanced at Rin and smiled.

" _I'll see the two of you later_ ," he said. " _Ishinohana at eight, right?_ "

Daphne nodded. " _See_ _you_ _then_."

Father Michael picked up his jacket and clapped Rin on the shoulder before leaving the room. Shura was throwing them an engagement party at the restaurant that night, and practically everyone was invited. The party was also the reason Daphne's blades weren't the only thing Rin had brought with him to the hospital that morning.

Stepping around to the other side of the bed, Daphne wrapped Rin up in her arms. He hugged her back and the two of them stood quietly, just breathing together. Rin pressed a kiss to her shoulder. He was so happy to bring her home.

"I got you something," he said.

She pulled back, her arms around his neck. "What?"

Rin had to let go of her to dig the little box out of his pocket, and his struggle to get a hold of the thing made him suddenly nervous. The box slipped free and he nearly dropped it. Daphne didn't even laugh. When he looked at her, her face was pale and serious.

"Well, I mean, I couldn't take my fiancée to an engagement party if she didn't even have a ring, so—" He cut himself off, sheepishly holding up the box in his hand. "Here."

Slowly, Daphne let her hands fall from around his neck. She took the ring box equally slowly and opened it like she had turned into a tortoise, which made Rin want to yell at her to hurry it up already because if she hated the ring he just wanted to and get it over with, but when the box finally _was_ open and she looked inside, tears leaked into her eyes and he assumed that was a good thing.

The ring was simple—just a single sapphire in a silver setting. The jeweler had called it a cushion cut, but hell if Rin knew what that meant. Daphne took it out of the box and put it on her finger. Then she started to laugh.

"What?" Rin asked, panicked.

"It's too big," Daphne said, and snorted. "Look."

She lifted her hand and the ring spun around on her finger so the sapphire was facing the ground, a good centimeter of space between Daphne's finger and the ring. That only made her laugh harder.

"How big do you think my hands are?"

"I don't know! How am I supposed to know?!"

Flustered, and mildly upset, Rin looked away in a stupid attempt to hide the embarrassed flush that had taken over his face, but Daphne just put her hands on his cheeks and, laughing, turned his face to her. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and pressed a deep kiss to his mouth.

"I love you, Rin Okumura," she said softly, pulling back. "And I still wouldn't trade you for anything."

* * *

THE END


	50. Author's End Note

Hi, there! I hope you enjoyed _Light Exorcist_. It was an absolute joy to write. Thank you all from the bottom of my black heart for sticking with me over this past year and some 87,000 words. Your reviews and comments are seriously amazing. They make all the work worth it.

I think I have a sequel brewing in my brain. If you want one, please let me know!

Again, thank you guys so, so much. You're the best.

Love, love,

~ _Phab_


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